Gone are the days of top hat wearing robber barons and steel tycoons sipping port and lamenting the rise of organized labor.  Despite its newfound popularity, Port is still synonomous with the long forgotten gilded age and the occasional 55-year old ex-frat bag found in cigar bars. This presents many problems and important questions for the aspiring port drinker. When do you drink port? Can you shake the weird image? Who are you trying to impress anyway?

The answers are frequently, naturally and everyone.

Sadly, I cant recommend DOW’s as a good option.

First, the name DOW (from James R. Dow) elicits images of drinking dryer sheets.  DOW’s sounds like a good all purpose cleaner, not a fine dessert wine. Of course, a name is easily forgiven for great taste or value. Again, Dow’s fails. Barely distinguishable from Taylor’s port, DOW’s is too watery and has a harsh finish. You may recognize Taylor’s as the preferred choice for cooking wine.  How do I know what cooking port tastes like you ask? Suffice it to say, there have been moments of doubt and pain.

The brandy, or distilled grape spirits added to stop the fermentation process, shows too prominently in DOW’s. Further, it lacks the smooth, syrupy, port texture that I prefer to sip either alone or with desert. Priced at around $18, it is not a bad value but Fonseca or Graham’s Six Grapes remain better quality for the value.

DOW’s LBV 2001- C