Rodrick Dow became a partner in 1893 by which time Silva & Cosens had become one of the largest Port wine shipping houses in Oporto. Messrs. Dow & Co. had long enjoyed a good reputation for the shipment of quality wines, in particular Vintage Port, and so it was about this time that the decision was taken to make DOW’S PORT the House Brand of the Company.

During this period the company started a rapid expansion program under the dynamic management of the combined firms. This resulted in the planting of the vineyards and the building of the adega at Quinta do Bomfim situated in the heart of the Upper Douro. The wine lodges at Vila Nova de Gaia were also planned and built at that time. These lodges were the first to use vats inter-connected with hoses and pipes to facilitate the handling of the wines within the lodge.

A. J. Symington was admitted into the partnership in 1912 and was later followed by his three sons who managed the business through the two world wars. They were then joined by their own sons and today the company is managed by the fourth generation of the Symington family.

During the 1960s and 1970s Silva & Cosens continued to be at the forefront of modern progress by being one of the first shippers to install modern autovinification fermenting tanks in their wine making center at Quinta do Bomfim.

Today Silva & Cosens forms part of the largest Port shipping business in Oporto, and individually ranks third in terms of overall turnover and stock holding. The stocks alone amount to over 21 million litres of Port of which, under the law laid down by the IVP, one third is shipped throughout the world. The single biggest part being shipped under the Dow’s name – a brand that continues to enjoy the high reputation it did when Ramsay Dow merged Dow & CO with Silva & Cosens back in 1877.

In 1998, the Bicentenary of the founding of the company, a new milestone was reached with the re-acquisition of Quinta DA Senhora DA Ribeira. This outstanding property was originally acquired by Dow's in 1890, but was sold in 1954 when the Port trade was at its lowest point and when many Port companies either closed down or were sold.

Situated in one of the most beautiful positions of the upper Douro valley above the river and facing the historic Quinta do Vesuvio (also owned by the Symington family), this Quinta produces some of the very finest Port in the Douro.

Quinta DA Senhora DA Ribeira

Quinta DA Senhora DA Ribeira takes its name from the little chapel between the Quinta house and the river, and was originally acquired by Dow's in 1890. By the end of the nineteenth century it was one of a trio of top-quality wine estates: Dow's was a substantial owner of Douro vineyards long before most Port shippers were involved in viticulture or winemaking.

The Quinta was sold in 1954, when the Port trade was at its lowest point - a time when many Port companies were either closed down or sold. But the link was not entirely lost: the Ribeira grapes were bought and vinified by Dow's, continuing to play a fundamental part in its greatest Vintage Ports for most of the century.

To the family's great delight, the opportunity to buy back Senhora DA Ribeira arose in 1998, Dow's Bicentennial year. This further consolidated the top-quality vineyard holdings for the Symington family, owners of Dow's.

Senhora DA Ribeira has a particular importance for the Symington family: in the first half of the 20th century this remote and tranquil Quinta was their favorite base when visiting their vineyards and suppliers in the Douro.

At that time, the only practical way to reach Senhora DA Ribeira was by crossing the Douro River by boat from the south bank, where the steam train halted at Quinta do Vesuvio: a large megaphone was kept in the garden to check train times with the stationmaster across the river.

This megaphone still has pride of place in the house, a tangible reminder of a bygone age before modern communications.

Douro valley's sub-regions: the average rainfall here is as low as 400 millimeters a year, and the average temperatures are PC higher than the Baixo Corgo. Senhora DA Ribeira faces due south, almost directly across the river from the legendary Quinta do Vesuvio.

The vineyard consists almost entirely of steep walled terraces, some of which are amongst the earliest to be built in the Douro. Out of a total of 42 hectares, the vineyard covers 21 hectares of south-facing hillside with 62,000 vines. The average age of these is over 25 years, and typically each vine yields only three-quarters of a kilo of grapes. This low yield, combined with the hot dry climate, consistently produces wines of tremendous depth of color and complexity, distinguished by their violets and Esteva aromas and tannic structure.

All the grapes are picked by hand, and the wine is made by the time-honored traditional method of treading by foot which year after year produces first-class wines. The Quinta's winery has seven small granite lagares for treading. Each holds just twelve pipes.

The low yields achieved at Senhora DA Ribeira clearly contribute to the concentration of the wines produced. The wine is then aged for some 18 months in the Quinta's oak vats, before bottling in the spring of its second year.

Quinta do Bomfim (meaning ‘good end’) was purchased in 1896 by George Warre at a time when he thought that a shipper should take a closer interest in the production of Port, a move that was somewhat unconventional at the time.

The building of the lodge and the house began in 1896 and was finished a year later. The vineyard continued to expand and by 1930 was producing some 100 pipes of Port (1 pipe = 550 litres) per annum.

The extending of the adega (winery) began in 1964 to make way for eight concrete autovinifiers. 1972 saw a third phase in the extension of the adega and an increase in the storage capacity to over 3,000 pipes. Today the winery is capable of producing approximately 7/8,000 pipes of Port during the vintage and continues to be updated and modernized in order to maximize the production of quality Port wine. 1997 saw the building of a new reception area and investments during 1998 include a new storage facility and weighing gantry.

In 1970 a gradual program of replanting the old terraced vineyards was started. This transformation focused on two objectives: firstly, to replace the old vines where production had fallen to negligible levels; and secondly, to obtain a ‘fresher’

style of wine from the higher vineyards to complement the more structured wines of the lower terraces. All the new vines have been planted in blocks of the traditional varieties to suit the altitude and soil.

The vineyard itself extending to 35 hectares produces some 350 pipes of Port and is split into the following grape varieties:

Roriz
Touriga Francesa
Touriga Nacional
Barroca
Tinto Cão and Tinta Amarela

A single quinta wine was launched in 1988 with the 1978 vintage. Quinta do Bomfim Vintage Port is only produced in ‘un-declared’ years, as in Vintage years the wine from this quinta goes to produce the core of Dow’s great Vintage Port.

The property situated within a short walk of the winery is based on a design taken from an Indian tea-planter style of house. Surrounded by a wide veranda and filled with many old family photographs the house has a very friendly atmosphere. This property has not escaped substantial investment over the years with the building of a new dining-room in 1986 and the refurbishment of the kitchen and various rooms during the later half of 1997 and early part of 1998.

This new state of the art winery was officially inaugurated by the Minister of Agriculture, Sr. Eng. Fernando Gomes DA Silva on 15th September 1997.

The design of the winery was conceived by Peter Symington, his son Charles and António Serôdio.

Several highly innovative ideas have been introduced in order to ensure that the company can produce the finest possible Port from the finest grapes in the region.

Special fermentation tanks have been designed smaller and lower but with a larger diameter to allow for greater color and flavor extraction. Measures have also been taken to ensure that wherever possible the temperature of the must can be controlled right up to and including the fortifying process.

Quinta do Sol is without doubt the most modern winery in Portugal and is further evidence

of the true commitment made to the production of quality Port by the firm.

In addition to these two wineries, Dow’s also continues to make a substantial quantity of Port by foot treading in the traditional lagares. In fact, together with the other Symington Port firms, over 1,800 pipes of Port are made in this way, by far the largest quantity of Port made in lagares in the Douro.

Vintage Port

Vintage Port is the outstanding wine of an outstanding year. Perhaps on average only three times in a decade is the weather suitable for the declaration of a Vintage year and only a small handful of vineyards in the Alto Douro produce wines of the potential to become Vintage Port.

The wine is aged for two to two and a half years in wood before being bottled, unfiltered. The pride of every shipper, Vintage Port can be purchased at once and allowed, over many years, to mature and develop a unique character, completely different from all wood-aged Port.

Dow’s is perhaps best known for its Vintages, which command high prices at auction, reflecting their excellence.

Professor Sainsbury in his famous Notes on a Cellar Book wrote: “There is no shipper’s wine that I have found better than the best of Dow 1878 and 1890 especially.” More recently, The Great Vintage Wine Book denotes the Dow’s 1977: “Dow, a copy book wine… clearly a top quality classic Port.”

Aged Tawnies

The new presentation for Dow's Aged Tawnies

Old Tawny Ports – 10, 20 and 30 years old – are all magnificent wines.

Peter and Charles Symington select young wines of great style and body for setting aside and maturing in oak, over many years. During the aging, the Ports gradually lose the full, deep red color of their youth and take on the classic amber hue, which gives them their name.

Superb light Ports, they are delicious, drunk lightly chilled in summer.

Reserve Single Year Tawnies

Reserve Ports are Tawnies of a single year which must be matured in wood for a minimum of seven years before they are bottled. In fact, Dow’s Reserve Ports are usually aged for much longer periods. They share some of the characteristics of the Old Tawnies with an indication of age (10, 20, 30 years old), although as wines from a single harvest the individual features of each year are distinctively reflected. Conversely, aged Tawny Ports with an age indication are blended to express a consistent style with little or no variation over time.

Dow’s Reserve Ports have a complex appealing nutty character acquired from the long contact with oak. They are beautifully structured with delicious, delicate fruit, an enticing silky-smooth texture and a long opulent finish.

Ruby, Tawny and White

These are the biggest selling and youngest of the wood-aged Ports, aged on average 3 years or so in oak casks.

During the aging process, the wines are tasted regularly and, when the tasters consider them to be ready, are blended with all the care of a Vintage Port, but bottled ready for immediate consumption.

The result is a range of Ports with the fine balance and flavor, worthy of the Dow’s name.