Dow's Quinta do Bomfim Vintage Port 2023

Socials

@Dows_Port

Information

Title

Dow's Quinta do Bomfim Vintage Port

Vintage

2023

The Wine

One of the Douro Valley’s finest vineyards, Quinta do Bomfim is at the heart of Dow’s wines, having provided the main structure for its famed Vintage Ports since 1896. In non-declared years, the finest wines from the vineyard are selected for bottling as Quinta do Bomfim Vintage Port and as such they closely reflect the characteristics of this single property, whereas a ‘declared’ Dow’s Vintage expresses the house style, derived from the sum of the several vineyards from which it is made. Five generations of Symington winemakers at Bomfim have developed a style that suits the vineyard; fermentations are a little longer resulting in a drier profile that has become one of Dow’s distinctive hallmarks. The Bomfim vineyard is predominantly south-facing, an aspect that favours complete and balanced grape ripening and which results in well-structured and intense, complex wines.

The Year

Abundant rainfall during the first half of the winter reversed the severe drought of 2022, replenishing soil water levels satisfactorily. Although February to April was an exceptionally dry and mild period, generous late spring rainfall in May and June sustained the vines over the ripening cycle. While much of Europe was blasted by extreme heatwaves during the summer, July temperatures in Portugal were close to normal and in the Douro fractionally below average. Although there was virtually no rainfall in the Douro during July and August, reasonable soil moisture, combined with comparatively moderate temperatures, favoured good levels of acidity, balanced maturations, and good phenolic development. Perfectly timed rain in early September provided a great start to the vintage, and we picked under fine conditions during the first half of the month. From mid-September, excessive rainfall affected later ripening grapes, but many of our finest vineyard parcels had been picked before the rain, enabling us to produce some very fine wines.

The Quinta

The estate is situated in the Upper Douro Valley with schist slopes arranged in vineyard terraces, which have yielded Dow’s most memorable wines for over a century. Quinta do Bomfim is ideally located in an area of transition between temperate and Mediterranean climates. Predominantly south-facing with ample solar exposure, the estate delivers complete and balanced grape ripening, which results in well-structured, intense and complex wines. All the Bomfim wines are produced at the property’s specialist on-site winery where small batches of grapes are trodden and fermented in modern lagares.

Brand

Dow's Port

Trademark

Bomfim

Type

Port