9 Vintage Ports, 7 Tawnies and Colheitas, and 2 Madeiras. 5 guys. 1 night. Port heaven!
Bottle #1: 2007 Quinta do Vesuvio Capela Vintage Port (cask sample)
Bottle #2: 2007 Niepoort Vintage Port (cask sample)
Bottle #3: 2007 Croft Vintage Port (cask sample)
Bottle #4: 2007 Taylor Fladgate Vintage Port (cask sample)
Bottle #5: 2007 Graham Vintage Port (cask sample)
Bottle #6: 2007 Warre Vintage Port (finished bottle)
Bottle #7: 2007 Taylor Fladgate Quinta de Vargellas Vintage Port Vinha Velha (cask sample)
Bottle #8: 2007 Fonseca Vintage Port (cask sample)
Bottle #9: 2007 Duorum Vintage Port (cask sample)
2007 Graham Vintage Port (cask sample)
Day 1
Color: The first (of this group of 9) neutrally purple Port. No red tones, no blue tones... just purple. 3/16" fade, so pretty much your bulls-eye standard young vintage Port.
Nose: Blackberries, cassis, and some aromatic alcohol over a slightly brighter purple fruit core.
Palate: Medium sweet with a medium full body. Boysenberries and black raspberries with a nice tang. Big tannins and good acidity. Feels like a long-haul Port.
Finish: Fruity and warm, just enough grip, and a bit of grape skin at the end. Good length.
Initial score: 91-94. Now we're talking. Things are looking up, and I felt that either my palate had finally adjusted or that this one was going to be really epic later on.
Day 2 & Day 3 - I didn't taste on day 2 or 3 due to prior commitments
Day 4
Color: Still purple, still a 3/16" fade. Still the standard bearer for what a young VP should look like.
Nose: Medium purple fruits with an earthy note. Possibly sawdust? Some fairly strong alcohol as well, almost enough to be overpowering.
Palate: Medium body and medium sweet, with nice acidity and a good, strong grip. There's some mild heat backing things up. The flavor has a very nice richness to it consisting mostly of ripe purple fruits.
Finish: Good tannins and fruit throughout, with a nice long even fade. An excellent finish that lingers and lingers.
Final score: 91-94 points. I considered going a point higher but ultimately left it here. I'm trying to be conservative for my first big set of tastings and ratings.
I was a little surprised to find out this was the Graham, because as noted above I didn't find it to be all that sweet. Not that it was dry, but Graham's reputation is the sweeter side of things and I had it pretty much right in the middle. In retrospect, it did have that round, rich flavor that I associate with Graham's Ports, but of course I didn't think of it at the time.
edit: format change so that TNDB would pick up the rating.
