1970 Graham Vintage Port

[Glenn E.]

One of several bottles that I purchased from K&L a few years ago. So far they've been mixed, even from the same bottler within the purchase. This was a Grant's of St. James bottling with one of those awful rubber capsules. On the plus side, they do keep the cork clean. The cork was nearly soaked through and broke in half during extraction even using a Durand. (I don't have one of the extra-long worms for my Durand.) Originally tasted pop-n-pour for a couple of hours (during which it improved) and then re-tasted after 24 hours. Sadly, that means I probably missed its peak showing which likely would have been somewhere in the 6-12 hour range, but the "off peak" tastes were still special.

1970 Graham
Grant's of St. James bottling

Color: Dark ruby/garnet with a faint hint of magenta. The color looks younger than 1970 by a fair margin, though isn't quite opaque enough to really fool you into thinking it's a child of the 80s. It could easily be a 1977, though, and surpasses many 80s-era VPs that I've had.

Nose: Luscious dark red, ripe purple, and black/blue berries. Significant stone fruit notes, especially black cherry. Also milk chocolate and some faint spirit.

Palate: As luscious as the nose. Intensely sweet, but with acidity to keep it in balance. Black cherry, plum, chocolate, something oddly like a rich and deep red vines flavor (but not that sweet), and Christmas spice without the cinnamon or clove. Medium full body. Very rich, round, and full flavor in the mouth. Surprisingly good tannins in a 47-year old Port; enough that I suspect similar bottles will continue to improve over the next 5-10 years and then hold at that plateau for another 10-15 years.

Finish: Kirsch, stone fruits, and some very pleasant warmth. Not especially long, but long enough for me. (I normally really care all that much about the finish on a Port unless it's extraordinary.)

Score: 96 points. I'm giving it the benefit of the doubt as my two tastes were probably 95+ and 94+ respectively, but it's also pretty obvious to me that I missed its peak showing. Also a very significant improvement over the last Grant's of St. James bottle from this purchase. I have a tough time choosing between this or the 1985 as my favorite vintage from Graham. Both are really fabulous when they're on, and this bottle was darn close.