Dark and intensely purple right up to the rim. On the nose, a restrained and subtle aroma of rockrose and gum-cistus. On the mouth the Dow’s 2003 has powerful and rich tannins with immense ripe fruit flavors. There are layers of bitter chocolate flavours with the characteristic freshly-ground black pepper finish. Less intensely sweet than all other leading Vintage Ports, Dow’s 2003 has the thoroughbred drier style that will give excellent ageing potential.
Reviews
This is without a doubt the best Dow Vintage Port ever, displaying a decadent, regal texture coupled with remarkable flavors and aromas of violets, blueberries, chalk and freshly ground pepper. It's full-bodied, medium sweet, long and extremely thick. Though the ripeness is almost too much, it retains so much grip.
The complex aromatics of the opaque, black-colored 2003 Dow Vintage Port display chocolate, dried oak, black cherries, blackberries, copious spices, and a myriad flowers. This fresh, backward wine offers a medium to full-bodied, deeply concentrated core of spice-laced dark fruits. Softly-textured and seductive in the mid-palate, it boasts abundant layers of candied Damson plums, blueberries, black cherries, molasses, and hints of chocolate before revealing its firm structure.
A powerhouse, but one that shows a certain degree of lushness to its robust blackberry and mint flavors. Finishes long and minerally, bolstered by slightly drying tannins. Should be more approachable by 2015 and last for three decades beyond that.
Aromas of blackberries and licorice follow through to a full-bodied palate, with lots of sweetness, fine tannins and a caressing, textured finish. A refined Dow. Best after 2012. 8,500 cases made. — JS
The black kernel of flavor that often forms the core of a Dow vintage is there in this wine, surrounded in '03 by juicy sweetness. Firm, bitter chocolate tannins are present behind the lush, honeyed fruit; savory herbs parallel the sweeter, floral tones. Rounder and more approachable than most young Dow vintages, this wine's structure is masked, and it's not clear whether it's a 20-year vintage or longer.