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| Drinking Windows and Values |
| Community Tasting History |
| Community Tasting Notes (average 92.2 pts. and median of 92 pts. in 94 notes) - hiding notes with no text | | | Tasted by RichardP on 3/13/2024 & rated 92 points: When first opened, this was a pale yellowish-pink. As it breathed, it gradually turned deep red. Decanting is recommended due to heavy sediment. This showed plum and raisin on the nose; on the palate, plum, black cherry, prune, and notes of rose petal, raisin, and light earthy spice, with moderate sweetness and moderate acidity on the medium to long finish. This might have improved with more air, but due to the number of guests it didn't last long. It was a good value at about $60. (465 views) | | | Tasted by KVM on 12/28/2023: This has been in my cellar for 20+ years. Set upright last week it pours very clear as a medium red to orange- red. Smells of light red berries, spearmint and light oxidation. Berries and cocoa in the mouth. I like this level of sweetness. We'll drink the rest of the bottle tomorrow nite. (769 views) | | | Tasted by Milos on 12/16/2023 & rated 94 points: No detailed notes taken. Company’s Christmas dinner. This drank just as I had hoped. Still showing lots of dark red and black fruit but somewhat subdued, with added complexity of wood, marzipan and chocolate. (571 views) | | | Tasted by Bordeaux_Jon on 9/11/2023 & rated 91 points: Half bottle. Substantially better than the 1994 and 1997 tasted besides, though maybe aeration will help? This vintage actually smells like aged port, though in a Zalto burgundy glass my wife felt the alcohol was very noticeable. (1176 views) | | | Tasted by scottesterly on 3/5/2023 & rated 92 points: Decanted 4 plus hours as of now. Deep & rich cherry flavor profile. An underrated port. 92 points. (1817 views) | | | Tasted by paintinginacave on 12/26/2022 & rated 94 points: Stood up for two weeks. Decanted for hour hours. Drank over four days. A medium ruby core fading to a pale ruby outer edge. Upon opening the aromatic equivalent of liquid black cherry frangipani. Once the initial burst of black cherry and marzipan had subsided chocolate coated raisins emerged. A truly glorious nose that’s both intense and subtle and displays a supreme purity and delineation of aromas. The palate is every bit as impressive - it’s rich and concentrated without ever overstepping the mark, is texturally silken, and drinks like raisins steeped in cherry-infused brandy with sweet baking spices. (2063 views) | | | Tasted by cfwine on 12/25/2022 & rated 92 points: Dense, rich, very nice poise between sugar and tang. Superb balance. A huge mouthful of damson plums. This is a big wine—there are no thin spots at all. Tannins fully integrated. On the sweet side even for vintage port.
Decanted ~eight hours. It started off just a little hot, but the alcohol settled down quickly, and it drunk beautifully the whole evening. The couple of glasses we saved for day two were just as good, maybe better, because the plums had backed off a little and allowed a touch of spice to come forward.
I’ll happily give my other two bottes some more time—it’s not going anywhere.
Will it get any better? I dunno. It’s aromatically pretty straightforward—not a bad thing, this is very good wine, but there is nothing beguiling or revealing here. (1724 views) | | | Tasted by Loathesome on 8/28/2022 & rated 90 points: Deep red. A very well balanced port and very typical of graham in terms of sweetness and length. My only reservation with this house is always the lack of grip and a bit of character. It is all rather perfecta and smartly dressed but a bit dull in that way. (2591 views) | | | Tasted by DUNCANSWI on 2/4/2022: With Dave and Carol (2884 views) | | | Tasted by andrewstevenson.com on 11/25/2021 & rated 95 points: Nickolls and Perks 30th Anniversary tasting of Symington's Vintage Ports (Zoom): A bright, crystal clear maturing appearance.
A rich nose with blacker, more opulent fruit than the four preceding 1991 vintage ports. There's some chocolate, some black plums stuffed with a vanilla-prune paste, some black olive, a hint of eucalyptus, and a touch of oak furniture polish. Very aromatic on the nose, and after a while it starts to feel almost a little cakey, initially almost a Victoria sponge cakiness, but then, with time and aeration, more definite hints of Black Forest Gateau, including a hint of kirsch/vieille prune.
Initially the alcohol is much more noticeable than the first four ports tasted today, with a touch of heat on the finish. After some time, it starts to feel nicely together on the palate, but it also really feels quite youthful, and still has plenty of structure.
This will probably last the longest on today's five ports, although at the moment it's not the most enjoyable. (2874 views) | | | Tasted by derekjohn on 1/24/2021 & rated 92 points: Very pale, almost kerosene (paraffin) pink. Remarkable power and concentration still. (3550 views) | | | Tasted by prof b on 11/4/2020: 375. Opened and consumed over an hour. Nice balance between fruit, sweetness, and acidity. Very nice. (3786 views) | | | Tasted by devraj on 10/18/2020 & rated 93 points: Dark ruby in color. Aromas of reddish black fruits like plums, prunes, spice box, tobacco leaves and violets. The palate shows silky and sweet dark red berry compote, graphite, celery seed, resolved tannins, medium acidity and a long perfumed and sweet finish. Nice. (3171 views) | | | Tasted by honest bob on 2/18/2020 & rated 91 points: From 75cl, spongey cork extracted with difficulty, decanted 2 hours. Better than my previous bottle (TN 30.10.2019) — more concentrated, a hint of racy acidity, more lively tannins. Taste profile identical, love those plums with cinnamon spice. 91(-92)P (3897 views) | | | Tasted by derekjohn on 1/24/2020 & rated 92 points: Still looking young. Fantastic perfumed nose. (3427 views) | | | Tasted by David J Cooper on 12/19/2019 & rated 92 points: Clear light red/brown. Light earthy brown sugar and fig nose. More lively flavours of fig, beef. and plums. The finish is long textured and a bit hot. (3060 views) | | | Tasted by Neecies on 12/15/2019: Jim's bottle. Medium color, soft tannins, browning edges, with chocolate, caramel, raisins and hazelnuts. Sweet but not as sweet on the attack as is typical of Grahams. Really good, though. (2667 views) | | | Tasted by honest bob on 10/30/2019 & rated 90 points: From 75cl, exemplary provenance. V. good cork extracted without difficulty. Decanted 1 hour and followed over a further 2 hours. Rose-water and candied violets on the nose; light-bodied entry with medium sweetness and monolthic mid-palate with Victoria plum notes and quite some cinnamon; tannins almost completely resolved, just an appealing touch of furriness on the finish. Missing the profundity recorded by others here. If this improves over the next few days, I'll correct this note accordingly. If not, not. 90P
Update 31.10.2019 A bit more open and generous after 24 hours. The plum/cinnamon combo is very moreish. Edging towards 91P (2948 views) | | | Tasted by devraj on 4/19/2019 & rated 93 points: Brick red in color. Aromas of blue and black small fruits, violets, celery seed and incense. Medium bodied palate shows viscous and silky sweet fruit, graphite and a long cedar and floral filled finish. (2743 views) | | | Tasted by gzim on 3/3/2019 & rated 90 points: Double decanted at 12pm to bring to a dinner (far away)... showed pretty well that night. Night 2 it seemed to get bigger in every way, yes its a Lighter Fruited Vintage... the Port is more transparent, but it is beautiful. Now on night three, its still showing very nice sweet fruit, but seems to be getting more simple - but still lovely to drink. (2799 views) | | | Tasted by cweiss on 11/25/2018: CK with Dan, Jon and Nesli. From 375. Opened and decanted at the beginning of dinner. Medium intensity, not much heat and quite a nice drink after dinner. (3026 views) | | | Tasted by oncocyte on 11/25/2018 & rated 94 points: Sweet. Tannins soft to resolved. Lovely drink. (2922 views) | | | Tasted by Timmyd on 2/10/2018 & rated 93 points: Delicious wine, tried a few 94 and 97's in the past year, all very good but this 91 is easily the top one. Showing some maturity but a lot left in the tank (4027 views) | | | Tasted by schoonbeke on 1/15/2018 flawed bottle: From a half bottle. I opened this in the afternoon. Very light color, very transparent, even more than the 85. It tasted good from the start, though very sweet, like a wonderful candy. Continued to be extremely enjoyable, easy and pleasant to drink, through the evening, and I had to restrain myself from finishing it. At that point I would have rated it better than the 85. But the next day, after being kept in s stoppered decanter, it had developed that very unpleasant taste and smell that sometimes occurs with ports after day one. Some of that blew off, but not all. The wine would have become less sweet on the tongue, richer, fuller and perhaps more complex on the second day, but because of the unpleasant taste and smell that remained I couldn't appreciate it. (3551 views) | | | Tasted by Xavier Auerbach on 1/13/2018 flawed bottle: Graham/Barton tasting-cum-lunch (Restaurant Bak, Amsterdam, NL): Oxidative and vegetal. Two bottles with (alas) consistent impressions. (4593 views) | | | Only displaying the 25 most recent notes - click to see all notes for this wine... |
| Graham Producer websiteGraham Porto VintageIn the earlier part of the 20th century, this wine was bottled with different labels. Within the same vintage and the same wine, it would be labeled "Vintage" and "Finest Reserve" depending on where it was released and who the distributing agent was.
For consistency's sake, we have opted to use only the "Vintage" name for this wine. That is what Graham has settled on going forward. Searching for "Graham's Finest Reserve" will lead to this entry.Port BlendOver a hundred varieties of grapes (castas) are sanctioned for port production, although only five (Tinta Barroca, Tinto Cão, Tinta Roriz (Tempranillo), Touriga Francesa, and Touriga Nacional) are widely cultivated and used.
- Mayson (1999), Port and the Douro, p. 93
Portugal ViniPortugal (Associação Interprofissional para a Promoção dos Vinhos Portugueses/Portuguese Wine Trade Association)Douro Instituto dos Vinhos do Douro e PortoPorto For The Love of Port is an essential site on the wines of Porto and Madeira. Co-subscribers can automatically integrate their reviews here as well. Also, read more about the HistoryOfPort. |
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