1983 Graham's Vintage Port

[Mike J. W.]

8 hour decant. The cork came out in one piece, but the bottom third was saturated. A tiny bit of mold on a top piece of the cork and their was a slight VA smell to the wine even after the 8 hour decant, but it wasn't bad at all. Pepper and some unidentified spice on the nose along with the smell of spirit, but it wasn't overpowering at all. The color was dark purple. I was thinking if I put this side by side with a 2007 Graham's VP, the color would have been identical...it was that dark. The legs on the side of the glass are thick and coat the glass. The smell is neutral right now and if anything leans towards spirit. I'm not very good at identifying flavors in a port, but I will say I taste more blue/blackish fruits than I do red fruits. The taste is sweet, warm and delicious. It's medium body and has a long aftertaste. You can feel it coating your mouth. It goes down very smoothly and I'm already on my second glass. For me, this is better than the '85, the '77, the '70, the '94 and the '00 Graham's. The only Graham's that I've tasted that are better than this are the '07 and the '60. Both tasted different than this, but both were very good. Don't get me wrong, I like the other Graham's I mentioned (although the only '85 I had was a little disappointing relatively speaking), but this one just tastes better than those. This is in a perfect drinking window right now, but I'd say it will have another 15 to 20 years before it starts to decline. Even then, I think it will be a pleasant drink.
94 points.

[Eric Menchen]

Nice note--thanks for posting. I wonder if the '85 you had was an off bottle. However, I've had what I think were perfectly normal bottles of '85, and I'm in the camp that thinks the '83 might be the better wine.

[Mike J. W.]

It well could have been an off bottle, although it looked okay when I decanted it. I have a few more of the '85's so I'll try it again, eventually.
Graham's is my second favorite Port brand after Fonseca, it just turned out that this '83 is one of the best I've had from there so far.

[Mike J. W.]

I'm doing a Homer Simpson "Doh!" moment here. I just remembered I had an '85 Graham's in February as part of a blind tasting here in NJ. It wasn't my number one that night, but it was better than the bottle I had opened on my own a few months back. I still like the '83 better.

[John M.]

Sounds like a good start to our next gathering!

[Mike J. W.]

Sounds like a good start to our next gathering!

Could be.