2003 Graham's Vintage Port

[Al B.]

Grahams 2003 4½ hours
Deep and intense youthful colour. Very full nose of ripe, sweet blackcurrants. Sweet into the mouth, full of pure ribena. Tannic, but balanced with a strong acidic backbone. Modest length aftertaste dominated by fruit but relatively short. A great wine if you want to drink a young fruit-bomb of a port. 92 points

This tasting note is one of several related tasting notes. Click [here] to see the original note in context.

[Scott Kipping]

Three best friends and my wife get together regularly to taste wine, one is set to leave for his summer break soon. Because of this, we had a special wine or two for our last tastings. The wines we had for the meal and tasting were 2005 Dr. Loosen Wehlener Sonnenuhur Riesling Auslese, Delas Marquise de la Tourette Hermitage 2006, Vineyard 29 Cru 2006, Domaine St. Prefert August Favier 2007, Heitz Cellars Marthas Vineyard 1987 and to finish off Grahams 2003 VP. We usually end our sessions with a sweeter wine. Mostly Suaternes, Barsacs, Pxs, Aus stickies, Canadian Icewine or Late harvest, seldom do we drink Port. I have no idea why we just don't.

2003 GRAHAMS VP Opened at 7:00am. poured into a decanter around 5:00pm, consumed around 10:00pm
Nose of asian spices, brown sugar, hot pepperoni and blackberry liqueur. A very slight touch of alcoholic heat was noticeable on the back end.
Mouthfeel, thick and viscous almost Pxish, vibrant in the mouth, silky smooth going down, a surprising lack of tannins.
Palate, Wow, is this ever concentrated, waves of black liquorice, raspberry liqueur, red nibbs [sweeter red liquorice] date square cake and icing sugar. I think we hit the perfect decant time as this was singing, perfectly balanced, velvety tannins that glided into a long finish with no heat. A glass that was hard to put down. We all vowed to source more VP in the future.

[Roy Hersh]

Scott,

I look forward to seeing you in a few weeks. I will try to bring your case across the border with me. Looking forward to the annual offline.

Now to the Graham's 2003 VP which I very much enjoy and although it is crazy young, it is a bright star in a Graham's lineup of greatness. I truly think as one of the more outspoke BC'ers, that you need to change the sticky nonsense up there and with all of the Port sold in and around Vancouver, you need to become an ambassador for Port there, just like you have for Douro wines. Now, Port just needs to be put in front of guys like David, Blair, Bill, John, Delbert etc. and they all really enjoy it, but it is an afterthought. So change that reality and start to do an occasional Port event. I am willing to drive up for one anytime, and I'd stay over at my friends home. I realize it is a pain for you to go all that way for a dinner, but I am willing and offering my assistance. Bill has that great in with La Gavroche. Use it!

[Scott Kipping]

Roy you make some good points. Port usually is an after thought, but after tasting it you always ask why we don't drink more. Therefore I will try to champion your cause and !. drink more Port 2. pour more Port for friends
Darrin paid 100.00 for the Grahams so it is not cheap in BC. Even though you said this was young I thought we got lucky with our decanting process and it was drinking perfectly.

Thank you for the FREE2007 Port forcast I forwarded it to lots of friends, they were all amazed how much HARD work and DETAIL was in the report. Congratulations. I will sign up soon and hopefully drag a few of those friends in also.

Itching to open up a 2007 Quinto do Vale Maeo VP this coming weekend for friends.

See you soon.