Symington revamps Dow’s oak-aged tawny Ports

Symington has revamped its range of Dow’s 10, 20, 30 and 40-Year-Old Ports, releasing a range of wines aged in both small oak vats and traditional 550-litre casks that date back to the 19th century.

Dow’s newly revamped range of tawny Ports

Charles Symington, fourth generation winemaker, has maintained a dry finish for these wines, the hallmark of Dow’s Vintage, but he and his team have evolved the Tawny Ports to give them “additional concentration and structure, with darker hues of polished mahogany, by using wines that have been aged in small seasoned oak vats, as well as in cask.”

The new Dow’s Tawny Ports are presented in a classic Port bottle with new labels intended to reflect the “extraordinary skills” required from the family’s tasters, coopers and lodge staff to produce these hand-crafted wines.

“With increasing demand for Tawny Ports, I have spent many months working to redefine our Dow’s wines,” said Symington. “I have selected those made from two of our finest vineyards: Quinta do Bomfim and Quinta da Senhora da Ribeira and in a departure from traditional practice, I have used Ports that were aged in small oak vats, as well those aged in traditional 550 litre casks.”

World-wide sales of Aged-Tawny Ports are valued at over €77 million and have grown by an astonishing €21 million since 2010 (+38%), according to total ex-cellar Port sales in 2017 released by the IVDP/Portuguese Ministry of Agriculture, belying the myth that today’s consumers are less interested in Port.

In the UK, Port exports are “unbelievably stable”, Paul Symington stated earlier this year. According to figures provided to the Institute of Douro Wine (IVDP) by the Portuguese Ministry of Agriculture, total exports of Port to the UK totalled 1,034,209 nine-litre cases in 2017, a 5.65% increase compared with 2010.

By value, total Port exports to the UK were worth €50,133,379 in 2017, an increase of 19.35% compared to 2010. But while volume and value has increased across the board, it is at the premium end of the market where gains have really been significant.

The export value of premium Port reached €37,273,594 in 2017, representing an increase of 27.66% on 2010. By volume, exports of premium ports increased by 10.42% to 617,336 nine-litre cases.