1990 Graham's Quinta dos Malvedos Vintage Port

[Andy Velebil]

Label as "Malvedos Centenary" in celebration of Malvedos' 1890-1990 history.

This was from a .375ml bottle that I had noticed had started to leak badly. The fill was about top shoulder when I caught it...so time to drink it up.

The cork was very short and must have had a flaw to give up the ghost at such a young age. Well, what better excuse to try this. I consumed this over two days, about 1/2 on each day, with the second half stored in the bottle and refridgerated.

The color was still dark ruby purple and had only the faintest of signs of aging at the very edge. The nose started out very jammy and primary. Reminded me of a new bottling of VP with grapes, bosenberry, plums, and lavender. The nose was quite complex and one where I found myself just smelling the glass over and over before even taking a drink. Although on day two the alcohol was a bit more forth coming on the nose. A fairly thin bodied Port on the palate, with lots of that typical Malvedos christmas cake, bosenberry, and roasted coffee. However, there was a lot of unintegrated alcohol on the palate which detracted a lot from the overall enjoyment. Actually, the heat got worse on day two to my surprise. There was a lot acidity on the palate but it was balanced by big grainy tannins. Where the palate dropped the ball a bit, the finish picked it up. A moderately long finish filled with spices, chocolate, and some grainy tannins that longed you to come back for more. 90+ points
03/31/08

I am curious to try this from a 750 that doesn't have any leakage issues. This has the making to be a better SQVP than what I scored it and I think it suffered a bit from air exposure prior to opening it, and due to the smaller bottle format.