Graham's: When a commercial LBV succeeds

[Mahmoud Ali]

I cannot remember when or why I bought a 2000 Graham's LBV (bottled 2006) because the previous Graham's that I had tried was a 1995 and I thought it was almost less than passable. So imagine my surprise when I came across this in a box of mixed wine. Considering how little I liked the 1995 and its lack of structure it was immediately brought home for a late night no-brainer drink.

Imagine my surprise when it showed itself to be delighfully mature, forwardly fruity, and savoury. A third of the bottle was consumed each day over three days as a post dinner drink. This experience harkend back to a 1981 LBV that also showed well at some age. At the time my port expert buddy, when shown the bottle (it was served blind) remarked that he recalled the '81 being a rather firm and structured LBV for the usually commercially styled Graham's.

This Graham's is now an 18 year-old LBV that was given the full six years and was likely filtered. How it has performed defies it's usually pedestrian pedigree. I've read here on the forum that people consider Graham's Six Grapes to be superior to the LBV. As I drink the last of the dregs, the soft, clumpy, jelly-like sediment melts in the mouth and adds an even more savoury, dry aspect.

Who'd a thunk it?

Mahmoud.

PS: I'm embarrassed to admit that I used a spoon to to fish the last clumps of sediment from the glass.

[John M.]

My results with Grahams LBV have been mixed and spotty to the point I tend to shy away if buying as there are better, more consistent choices. I find Six Grapes pedestrian compared to similar ruby reserves. What is perhaps odd is that their VPs are among my favorites.

[Tom Archer]

There is no mistaking the fact that in recent years, the Symingtons have elected to promote Graham as the jewel in their crown of brands.

- Which makes the less glorious offerings of Graham seem slightly out of place.

Logic says to me that of their three LBV offerings, one should be filtered, one should be age-worthy but marketed young, and the third should be unfiltered and bottle aged.

Warre already has a strong reputation in the third category, and the existence of the red label filtered Warre LBVs (which mostly seem to be sold to airlines) strikes me as a mistake.

The filtered Dow LBV, which has a low profile (in the UK, at least) seems the logical choice for the supermarket Christmas special offers. However, in the Christmas market, a lot of people like to buy something that is a little better than the ordinary, and this is where a revamped Graham LBV could come into its own.

Several producers have issues with the IVDPs definition of unfiltered, and without using the term produce an LBV that has minimal filtration and ages well - this is where I would personally position the Graham.

I would re-launch the Graham LBV as a typically seven to eight year old wine, moderately strained and stabilised, but nothing like as stripped as the current product is. I would also offer it with a driven cork instead of the current T stopper, and pitch it to the big retailers at around a 5% price premium over the Taylor.

Edit: I forgot there is also a Cockburn LBV - two filtered LBVs is more than enough IMO..