1970 Graham Vintage Port

[Glenn E.]

A recent purchase from K&L so I thought I'd open one to test the lot. This is 1 of the 7 bottled in England by Grant's of St. James with one of those awful hard rubber capsules.

It took some very careful cutting to get the capsule off, after which I found that the cork was loose and could be pushed into the bottle if I wasn't careful. I did manage to get a corkscrew in, though, and extracted 80% easily. The last 20% broke off as the neck narrowed, so I pushed it into the bottle and decanted.

1970 Graham VP

Color: Slightly cloudy medium strawberry color. Definite signs of age, though clear at the rim.

Nose: Gently spirity, with soft red fruits hiding behind. Also some confectioner's sugar. Pleasant but not memorable.

Palate: Soft and smooth. Very elegant... feminine... past its prime. Overripe and very soft strawberry. A rich effect similar to cream cheese (but not cheesey) - almost but not quite honey, almost but not quite butter. Rich simple syrup. Easy to drink.

Finish: Fairly short but not clipped. There's just not much there.

Score: 90 pts. Very nice, but not special. Based on past experience I would say that this is probably damaged, likely due to having been stored upright for too long. It isn't what I'd call oxidized, but it's close. Hopefully the other bottles are in better condition.

[John M.]

That's a shame. My bottle is an ex-cellars and showed well (although of the three I originally had this one was the least being a little flat in comparison). I too, got the strawberry which sometimes came off as a red raspberry. No honey, though. Hope the rest are better for you.

[Glenn E.]

I have most of a case left from a previous purchase, and those have all been fantastic. I'm really hoping it was just this one bottle in this lot. The lot was clearly piecemeal (it's the reason for this thread, and bottle #4 is the one I opened for this TN) so I'm thinking there will be a lot of bottle variation between them.