Perfectly Aged Vintage Port

Grahams 1985 Vintage Port
Bottled in 1987
$89.00
Shane’s Notes

Jen and I have been trying all the dessert wines: Sherry, Sauternes, Tokaji and Tawnies to name just a few. We finally decided to try the king of the dessert wines – a well-aged Vintage Port. After poring over vintage charts, surfing websites and reading Broadbent’s Vintage Port tasting notes, we decided the best deal for the money was the Graham’s 85 Vintage Port. I like Grahams sweeter style and with 17 years of bottle age, the pundits agreed that this port was at its peak.

We peeled off the seal and were relieved to see a clean cork (we had recently bought a 1994 Broadbent Vintage Port and the wine had soaked the cork and was completely oxidized). The cork looked fairly solid so we tried a rabbit-style corkscrew and achieved a clean pull. If the cork had broken, we would have used a two prong extractor to remove the broken piece. These extractors work by easing two metal prongs between the cork and the bottle and are the best way to remove broken corks. Due to the sediment in an aged port, we decanted and used a funnel with a screen.

The color of this port was a dark, inky, ruby color because of the bottle age. The complex aroma included licorice and sweet black cherry. The first sip revealed a very, rich texture – I just held it in my mouth and savored it. The palate is complex and includes figs and chocolate covered cherries with a hint of mocha on the finish. True to the Graham style, this Vintage Port is very sweet. The finish is short and there are still some tannins left although I suspect this wine is peaking right now. The third glass was definitely the best.

Aside from the ports, all the dessert wines that we have tasted have been white wines. Vintners use a myriad of techniques to extract sweetness and flavor from the white grapes: they late harvest the grapes, they sun dry the grapes, they use botrytized grapes and they sometimes even partially oxidize the grapes. All these techniques help but they can’t overcome the “the white grape problem” which is a lack of complexity and flavor when compared to red grapes. A good Vintage Port will always be superior to the white dessert wines (and everyone should try one at least once) but I have to admit that I have not yet made up my mind whether it is truly worth the price.