Winemaker Notes
Exceptionally aromatic with aromas of violets, hints of blackberry, blackcurrant and black plum on the nose. There is some spice that is balanced with fresh acidity and minerality. A long finish with ripe but firm tannins.
Dow's Senhora da Ribeira can be enjoyed anytime and pairs wonderfully with chocolate desserts and soft cheeses like creamy Stilton or Roquefort.
Blend: 55% Touriga Franca, 35% Touriga Nacional, 10% Sousão
Professional Ratings
-
Decanter
A small estate in the Douro Superior that has long formed part of Dow’s vintage blend. Deep, brooding aroma; initially rich and succulent with ripe plum and berry fruit compote, well-structured with a big, bold and rather austere, dry but powerful tannic finish. Typically Dow in style, works well in a super-ripe year like this.
-
Robert Parker's Wine Advocate
The 2015 Quinta de Senhora da Ribeira, the Douro Superior quinta, is a blend of Touriga Franca 55%, Touriga Nacional 35% and Sousão 10%. It comes in at 98 grams per liter of residual sugar. This is a relatively big boy on first taste, showing good structure and a mouth-coating demeanor. The delicious flavors, laced with cherry-chocolate and some mint, make it enticing, not just well structured. This is a lovely single-quinta that should age pretty well and still be approachable young. As it sat and aired, it became a bit more mute. It did seem to come around very fast, and it was not quite as impressive as the initial tastes suggested. It is still pretty delicious and it should hold well.
-
Wine Enthusiast
Rich and fruity, this wine is packed with intense black-currant flavors. It is perfumed, ripe with a good tannic background. The density of the wine and the firm structure point to a long aging process. Drink this beautifully structured wine from 2026.
Cellar Selection -
Wine Spectator
This takes a fresh approach, with a spearmint hint piercing the core of bright, juicy blueberry, blackberry and boysenberry paste flavors. Rounded and generous, showing an open feel. Eschews grip for purity and charm. Best from 2025 through 2035.
Port is a sweet, fortified wine with numerous styles: Ruby, Tawny, Vintage, Late Bottled Vintage (LBV), White, Colheita, and a few unusual others. It is blended from from the most important red grapes of the Douro Valley, based primarily on Touriga Nacional with over 80 other varieties approved for use. Most Ports are best served slightly chilled at around 55-65°F. To learn more, see our full Port Wine Guide
The home of Port—perhaps the most internationally acclaimed beverage—the Douro region of Portugal is one of the world’s oldest delimited wine regions, established in 1756. The vineyards of the Douro, set on the slopes surrounding the Douro River (known as the Duero in Spain), are incredibly steep, necessitating the use of terracing and thus, manual vineyard management as well as harvesting. The Douro's best sites, rare outcroppings of Cambrian schist, are reserved for vineyards that yield high quality Port.
While more than 100 indigenous varieties are approved for wine production in the Douro, there are five primary grapes that make up most Port and the region's excellent, though less known, red table wines. Touriga Nacional is the finest of these, prized for its deep color, tannins and floral aromatics. Tinta Roriz (Spain's Tempranillo) adds bright acidity and red fruit flavors. Touriga Franca shows great persistence of fruit and Tinta Barroca helps round out the blend with its supple texture. Tinta Cão, a fine but low-yielding variety, is now rarely planted but still highly valued for its ability to produce excellent, complex wines.
White wines, generally crisp, mineral-driven blends of Arinto, Viosinho, Gouveio, Malvasia Fina and an assortment of other rare but local varieties, are produced in small quantities but worth noting.
With hot summers and cool, wet winters, the Duoro has a maritime climate.