Dow's Master Blend LBV Port 2006

[worly101]

Hi,

First post, so be nice!

I have recently received a bottle of Dow's Master Blend LBV Port 2006. Don't know anything about this, so any info would be great. Dates, pairings and price would be a great start.

Thanks in advance.

[jdaw1]

An LBV 2006 should be a fine drink. It’s worth approximately nothing (three years ago it might have cost £14 in a supermarket), so drink it.

With what? By itself. Or with steak au poivre, or with cheese, or with dessert. By yourself, or with somebody beautiful. At lunch or in the evening.

But do drink it.

[djewesbury]

I believe that Julian has covered the essential details in his rather masterly treatise. However I will add some trifling technicalities.

It doesn't need decanting, but it will certainly benefit from a bit of air. If you happen to have a decanter, then pour it in and get started. It will keep for between four days and a week, but taste regularly and if necessary, speed-drink.

I think you should have a glass and see what you think. What would you eat with it? Who would you like to share it with? Yes, steak, cheese or pudding but also stews, casseroles, roasts.. Or a spartan breakfast could be enlivened with a glass or dozen.

Please let us know how you get on. And welcome. This is only the beginning.

Dr. Daniel

[DRT]

By yourself, or with somebody beautiful.

Is that why you like drinking Port with me?


As the others have said this is best drunk now rather than being kept or sold. It sounds like this is your first experience of Port so my advice would be that if at all possible you share the bottle with two or three others. I am not convinced that Professor Jewesbury's advice to try your hand at "speed-drinking" is a good idea if you are a complete novice Port drinker. Go gently with your first attempt so as not to spoil the experience and dent your enthusiasm with a giant hangover.

On the specific wine itself, Dow's Master Blend is a very common sight in large supermarkets. The one you have was probably sold through one of those about four years ago. It should be drinking perfectly now (provided it has been stored well) but will not benefit from further aging as it has been filtered and fined to remove the solid matter from the wine that needs to be there for any wine to evolve into something better. The producer would probably advise that Ports of this style be consumed within two years of bottling. I don't think they are far wrong on that score but a couple of more years will not have done any harm. Another five or ten could see a significant deterioration in the freshness of the wine. {queue the "I think filtered wines benefit from bottle age brigade"}

Please drink it. It is what it was made for.

Please let us know your opinions on it once you have tasted it.

[LGTrotter]

I think that port is for quiet reflection, be that alone or with others. As to hangovers, yes, a lot of port can produce a raging thirst and a banging head reminiscent of crossing the Sahel on foot, but not usually.

And you should get on and drink it.

Reccomendations for the next bottle are available.

And of course; welcome and thanks for posting.

[djewesbury]

The main thing to bear in mind as regards drinking this bottle is simply that you should remember to drink plenty of water alongside. We presume you are an adult well able to take care of yourself. The main danger, if there is one, is in letting this become one of those forlorn bottles that only gets opened once every three months for a small glass to be poured. If that were to happen, the contents would become quite disgusting.

[griff]

Alternatively, one could enjoy it and think that one could procure another. Just because it is midnight and there is no one sober enough to drive is no excuse; merely obstacles to your imminent satisfaction. Seven miles to the nearest 25 hour Tesco supermarket will be a doddle. Or was it 23 hours? Regardless, onwards!

p.s. The better half says "It is winter over there. Wouldn't that be lovely with a Welsh Rarebit?"

[PopulusTremula]

It should be drinking perfectly now (provided it has been stored well) but will not benefit from further aging as it has been filtered and fined to remove the solid matter from the wine that needs to be there for any wine to evolve into something better.

Two apologies before i start; firstly for the potential thread hijack and secondly for my appallingly bad knowledge of chemistry.

Some random thoughts about DRT's statement:

1. Are solids required in a wine for it to be able to mature in a good way? To me this does not make sense. Surely lots of fine wine is fined with egg white, bentonite or isinglass. Does it perhaps in part depend on the type of wine?

2. If one were to filter 2011 VP, would that prevent the wine from developing further in the bottle?

3. I thought fining removes existing solids in a wine and makes it clearer. Does this also prevent future precipitation of solids from the liquid?

Feel free to either remove post or to create a thread of its own and of course, to enlighten me on the chemistry side.

[flash_uk]

I have a related question about VP. When it gets bottled, does air fill the space between the cork and juice, or is an inert gas normally put it?

[LGTrotter]

I have a related question about VP. When it gets bottled, does air fill the space between the cork and juice, or is an inert gas normally put it?

Air. Not the inert french electro-pop kind, just air.

[LGTrotter]

It should be drinking perfectly now (provided it has been stored well) but will not benefit from further aging as it has been filtered and fined to remove the solid matter from the wine that needs to be there for any wine to evolve into something better.

Two apologies before i start; firstly for the potential thread hijack and secondly for my appallingly bad knowledge of chemistry.

Some random thoughts about DRT's statement:

1. Are solids required in a wine for it to be able to mature in a good way? To me this does not make sense. Surely lots of fine wine is fined with egg white, bentonite or isinglass. Does it perhaps in part depend on the type of wine?

2. If one were to filter 2011 VP, would that prevent the wine from developing further in the bottle?

3. I thought fining removes existing solids in a wine and makes it clearer. Does this also prevent future precipitation of solids from the liquid?

Feel free to either remove post or to create a thread of its own and of course, to enlighten me on the chemistry side.

The maturation of vintage port is all about 'purging it of its gross impurities' which settle as a crust on the bottom of the bottle, most LBVs, ruby ports, cheap wood ports are filtered, stabilised, cooked etc to render them largely inert (cue howls of 'foul' for all the exceptions to this). They tend not to throw a crust but may precipitate out some solid matter. Table wines are often racked, a process of putting it in a barrel, leaving it to settle and drawing the clear wine off the top. It does not seem to help, too much fining and racking seems to produce rather skeletal, hollow wines. I don't know much about chemistry I'm afraid. I don't think isinglass is used these days. I add this to allow others to contradict me and get to the truth of the matter.

[Alex Bridgeman]

My understanding is that "filtered" wines are often chilled to force much of the solid that is barely dissolved at room temperature to solidify and settle to the bottom of the bottle. Rack or filter the chilled wine and you leave the solid behind and create a wine in the bottle that has less to it - not a particular problem if you intend to drink it soon but personal experience leads me to believe that if you keep such bottles of port for an extended period then they tend to quickly develop towards the light tawny, brown-sugar water end of the mature port spectrum. I don't find this unpleasant and will happily drink such wines, but I don't find as much complexity and enjoyment in these as I do in a bottles aged vintage port of the same age.

The stuff in port which tends to clump together and settle as a deposit over time seems to add certain elements of flavour to a mature wine that is missing if the lumpy bits are taken out too early.

[CaliforniaBrad]

My understanding is that "filtered" wines are often chilled to force much of the solid that is barely dissolved at room temperature to solidify and settle to the bottom of the bottle. Rack or filter the chilled wine and you leave the solid behind and create a wine in the bottle that has less to it - not a particular problem if you intend to drink it soon but personal experience leads me to believe that if you keep such bottles of port for an extended period then they tend to quickly develop towards the light tawny, brown-sugar water end of the mature port spectrum. I don't find this unpleasant and will happily drink such wines, but I don't find as much complexity and enjoyment in these as I do in a bottles aged vintage port of the same age.

The stuff in port which tends to clump together and settle as a deposit over time seems to add certain elements of flavour to a mature wine that is missing if the lumpy bits are taken out too early.

I believe you're slightly confusing cold stabilizing and filtering. When a wine is cold stabilized, it's seriously chilled to cause the tartaric acid to crystallize and fall out of solution, a handy thing to do as tartaric acid doesn't contribute much to the balance of a wine, but when seen at the bottom of bottles of white in many stores, causes average consumers to freak out that it may be broken glass, etc. Not good for sales.

Now after being cold stabilized, wines are usually filtered (as you want to remove all the crystals), but it is not a prerequisite by any means. Depending on the size of the filter, the goals of filtration and the effect on the taste/ageability of the wine can be very different. If you're filtering at a level small enough where it's a sterile filtration, you're probably also stripping out a noticeable amount of the floaty tannic solids that contribute to aging and flavor, but in the case of an early drinking wine, you're cleaning it up as well as reducing the likelihood of bacterial spoilage (always something to be careful of in sweet wines). You can also filter on larger levels, which, at the right size, leave much or most of the floaty solids but strip out most of the risk of bacteria, or you can filter on a very large level, just to remove the crystals after cold stabilization and other large particles.

There is substantial debate as to how much effect filtration has on a wine in its later life, but much like screwcap sealed wines, you can find plenty of wines to support either camp.


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