For The Love Of Port

TN: 1992 Graham's Malvedos Vintage Porto, bottled 1994; 20 pabv. $34.95, Cost Plus Wine Warehouse, Eastern Market, Detroit, MI. Premium Port Wines, Inc., Sausalito, CA.

I wonder why Graham's doesn't put a full-size cork in these. They ARE vintage port, after all. Maybe a hint that we should drink 'em up early?

Considerable crusting noted on decanting. Given 24 hours aeration before tasting.

Purple with a slight brownish cast, with a purple-green, faded edge.

Typical Malvedos nose--prunes with a big high-toned note that some call 'violets'; hint of vanilla.

Slight somewhat hard tannins; a note of 'guts' ('sève'); usual sweetness/acid balance. A medium-bodied, medium-flavored port, but has good length.

This has much more finesse, even tending toward a lighter style, than most Malvedos ports. Still could use a bit more time in cellar. 90/100

Cross-Posted from ERP/Squires

sweetstuff wrote: I wonder why Graham's doesn't put a full-size cork in these. They ARE vintage port, after all. Maybe a hint that we should drink 'em up early?

John,

That's a pretty hard hint to spot until you have actually opened the bottle :?

It anoys me when shippers put these short corks in any VP. It is purely a cost saving measure and, to my mind, is quite a ridiculous thing to do given the relative cost of a cork to the value of even the cheapest of VP's.

Derek

John,

thanks for the TN....one question. Was there more sweetness or acidity in it?

GREAT notes! I'm looking forward to popping a of this in the near future.

If it's like the half bottle then it's not so much short as thin.

Thanks for the notes, I have six bottles of 1996 and having tasted some at an event I know it has years left in it - I suspect at least a decade before it is ripe.

From what I have seen, the short corks seem to originate from a bottling line in the control of the Symingtons. This is the oldest bottle I have heard of having these corks.

While shorter than regular corks, they also appear to be more compressed, and a tighter fit in the bottle.

There does seem to be a logic here -

If you tried to fit a long ultra tight cork, the expansion of the cork as it left the machine would cause the cork to jam on the sides of the bottle before it was fully inserted - so there would appear to be a choice between full length corks that are reasonably tight, and shorter corks that are ultra tight.

With a very tight, compressed cork, there will be less interaction between the liquid and the cork, which probably reduces the risk of tainting.

Simple logic also suggests that tighter corks will maintain their seal for longer - but time will be the test of that.

For the Port trade, this is quite a bold innovation, and probably driven by rising cork prices.

Are the Sym's using them only for SQ's? - I'm not sure...

Tom

In my limited experience, my problem with old corks is where the moist bottom third/quarter hits the ultra dry middle and top. The Dry bit is happy to disengage with its moister, tighter bottom! This idea of a shorter tighter cork does seem, theoretically, a step forward in that respect.

Although this is a very 'Laymans' opinion.

Alan

Tom, I've seen this logic in German wines as well where it's supposed to prevent the leakage caused by overfilling. Verdict: Doesn't work. All it seems to do is make it impossible to get the cork out intact in more than 50 percent of the bottles.

If you haven't guessed, I'd prefer a longer, standard-compression cork. These experiments done at the cost of the consumer really fume me.

KillerB wrote:If it's like the half bottle then it's not so much short as thin.

Thanks for the notes, I have six bottles of 1996 and having tasted some at an event I know it has years left in it - I suspect at least a decade before it is ripe.

The '92 is perhaps a bit more mature, I'd guess.

It's a 'standard' sized cork--not like the full length ones you usually see in VP.

The terrible corks you find in half-bottles have even less logic than this.

Alan C wrote:In my limited experience, my problem with old corks is where the moist bottom third/quarter hits the ultra dry middle and top. The Dry bit is happy to disengage with its moister, tighter bottom! This idea of a shorter tighter cork does seem, theoretically, a step forward in that respect.

Although this is a very 'Laymans' opinion.

Alan

I don't seem to have this problem--but perhaps that's because my wines are stored with a view to humidity to prevent this.

Andy V. wrote:John,

thanks for the TN....one question. Was there more sweetness or acidity in it?

Andy: Seems tp have a very 'usual' balance for a Grahams VP, if you are familar with their standard, which I know you are. Of course there's a touch more sweetness than with a Taylor's or a Dow's, by my palate.

Marc Jackson wrote:GREAT notes! I'm looking forward to popping a of this in the near future.

Thanks, Marc.