Next year is a... uh, significant birthday for me. I am attempting to put together a full horizontal of 1964 Vintage Ports to celebrate!
That's both easier and more difficult than it sounds. Easier because there are only 7* bottles needed so it's not a huge selection, but more difficult because there are only 7* bottles needed and they're all pretty rare.
There are 7 VPs from 1964 for sure according to Julian's book. I have 6 of those and am only missing the Dow Quinta do Bomfim. Thus this post - if you see a 1964 Dow for sale, please let me know! I've been looking passively for about 10 years, and while I've seen them occasionally they've always been too expensive. Well I've now reached the point that "too expensive" is much higher than before because I'm running out of time.
About that asterisk. There's another that might have been made but was probably never sold, and yet another that was mentioned once possibly in error. Those would be the Gonzalez Byass and Offley Boa Vista respectively. If you see either of these I'd love to know about it, too, but I suspect they don't actually exist, at least not anymore.
And then there's the fact that the Butler Nephew was bottled both as a Butler Nephew (the bottle I currently have), and as a Vasconcellos. I had one with a Vasconcellos label but opened it for my last significant birthday. Julian is pretty sure they're the same Port and just different labels for different markets, so I feel no need to search for another Vasconcellos. If one just happens to show up while searching for the Dow then I'll probably buy it, but I don't need to scour the earth for one.
An, of course, there's the 1964 Niepoort Garrafeira, but that's not a Vintage Port and I already have it anyway.
So... please help me find a 1964 Dow Quinta do Bomfim! [beg.gif]
Edit: Vasconcellos, not Rabelo Valente. My memory failed me!
Please help me find a 1964 Dow
Please help me find a 1964 Dow
Last edited by Glenn E. on 00:11 Tue 24 Jan 2023, edited 2 times in total.
Glenn Elliott
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Re: Please help me find a 1964 Dow Bomfim
From the Summary table in the book (v1, I don't have access to v2 while at work) we have:
- Produced and sold: D, F, G, N, RP, T (note table not distinguishing SQVP from VP, although chapters ofc do).
- Produced, probably sold: GB
- Perhaps: BN
- Unlikely: OBV
From the tasting notes section of TPF we have the following 1964 vintage ports:
- FG, GM, NN, RP, TV
From the VPID, we have images of the following 1964 VPs:
- BN, D, FG, NN, RP, TV
(plus the Ni64g ofc).
I'm therefore assuming you're 7* bottles are: BN, D, FG, GM, NN, RP, TV ?
with notes that The Dow is a full Dow not DB, see this image (and The Book also lists 1964 Dow, not Dow Bomfim - so you'll be hard pushed to find anyone to help you find one - but someone might help you to find the hard-to-find D64 which I believe mostly went to the Danish market), and also that The Book also lists GB as "produced, probably sold".
p.s. If you have the GM64, could I have a photo please, as I haven't seen that one yet and it isn't in the VPID.
- Produced and sold: D, F, G, N, RP, T (note table not distinguishing SQVP from VP, although chapters ofc do).
- Produced, probably sold: GB
- Perhaps: BN
- Unlikely: OBV
From the tasting notes section of TPF we have the following 1964 vintage ports:
- FG, GM, NN, RP, TV
From the VPID, we have images of the following 1964 VPs:
- BN, D, FG, NN, RP, TV
(plus the Ni64g ofc).
I'm therefore assuming you're 7* bottles are: BN, D, FG, GM, NN, RP, TV ?
with notes that The Dow is a full Dow not DB, see this image (and The Book also lists 1964 Dow, not Dow Bomfim - so you'll be hard pushed to find anyone to help you find one - but someone might help you to find the hard-to-find D64 which I believe mostly went to the Danish market), and also that The Book also lists GB as "produced, probably sold".
p.s. If you have the GM64, could I have a photo please, as I haven't seen that one yet and it isn't in the VPID.
Re: Please help me find a 1964 Dow Bomfim
Sten's site has a TN from 2020 for a 1964 Poças Jr. And there is exactly one bottle of it listed on CellarTracker (although that could be a misidentification).
For a fairly rare VP like all these, best bet is probably to call the winery itself and maybe a few large PT retailers/distributors.
For a fairly rare VP like all these, best bet is probably to call the winery itself and maybe a few large PT retailers/distributors.
Re: Please help me find a 1964 Dow Bomfim
The Poças is a Colheita, and a pretty good one at that. Rivals the Noval Colheita for the best of the vintage. There is also a Dow Vintage Reserve (read: Colheita) and I have a handful of those as well, so you have to be very careful when looking at listings.
Thank you for the picture of the Dow - I had just assumed it was a Bomfim because, well, 1964 wasn't a good year.
Photos of the GM and Vasconcellos née BN have been sent via email.
Correct.I'm therefore assuming you're 7* bottles are: BN, D, FG, GM, NN, RP, TV ?
Thank you for the picture of the Dow - I had just assumed it was a Bomfim because, well, 1964 wasn't a good year.
Photos of the GM and Vasconcellos née BN have been sent via email.
Glenn Elliott
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Re: Please help me find a 1964 Dow Bomfim
I can liaise you to the swedish guys, Glen. They might be able to locate this. I have tasted this in DK some years ago. A delightful Port, but at the very end of its drinking plateau.
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Re: Please help me find a 1964 Dow Bomfim
Thank you Axel, that would be wonderful!
In other news, I have just arranged to purchase a 1964 Messias LBV (bottled 1969) and a 1964 Gonzalez Byass Vintage Port. Listed in The Book as "Produced, possibly Sold". One has now definitely been sold!
Glenn Elliott
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Re: Please help me find a 1964 Dow Bomfim
Not a bad year either - all my encounters have been good.I had just assumed it was a Bomfim because, well, 1964 wasn't a good year.
The producers were so signed up to declare '63 after the '63 harvest, I don't think they gave '64 a chance.
I've never seen a D64 offered, but I do have the extremely rare Dow 62 - bottled in your birth year.
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Re: Please help me find a 1964 Dow Bomfim
Wonder how much of that they expected to be around in 2023 when they were bottling it in 1969?! Although presumably it was a Portugese-style one so may have survived a bit better than a modern filtered LBV?