TN follows the following story (my past with Graham's Six Grapes)
Graham's Six Grapes was the very first port I ever tried, at the most unusual of places: a BEER TASTING. A guy that I played hockey with used to put on beer tastings on a monthly- or semi-monthly basis. The most exciting of these always fell around the big events (Christmas, Thanksgiving, Octoberfest, Robbie Burns day, etc). This particular tasting was the Christmas edition, and for a few bucks more than the regular $17Cdn, we had 11 different beers sampled and a generous pour of port as a Christmas treat.
Now I have to say that when they announced the last drink sampled on the night would be a port, I was disappointed. Having never tasted port before, I assumed it was much like red wine which, many of the ones I had tried were all very dry, I disliked immensely. I tried to pawn mine off on a friend, in trade for his two remaining glasses of dark ale that were the subject of the last two beer samples of the night. He insisted that I try the port, he loved Graham's, etc. I tried, grudgingly. And here I am today!
I ended up talking three or four people out of the glasses that they were not interested in. We left the tasting that night, walked across the parking lot to the liquor store where the beers and port had been provisioned from, and proceeded to buy a bottle of this, my first port purchase. Brought it home, enjoyed it, went back for another. It has been my "best buy for the money" port for a couple of years now. The rest, as they say, is history!
Onto the Tasting Note:
-Rich, vibrant purple colour for a 'reserve port.' Of all the reserve ports I have tried as of late, this is definitely the darkest colour. Not opaque like a VP or some LBVs, but dark enough to make a guy sit up and take notice.
The purple fades to clear on the meniscus.
-Nose of black cherries, raspberries, dark chocolate. No alcohol to speak of on the nose.
-Soft yet supple tannins on the palate. Black cherries are prevalent in the taste, and the mouthfeel is rich and fairly full-bodied. It has a decent length finish, one which I would equate to a very good LBV or a lesser VP (which, from limited experience, don't seem to have the same prolonged finish as the top-tier VPs.) Alcohol fairly integrated. Nice.
A very well-balanced port. One of the "discount outlets" around my home has recently started stocking this at anywhere from $6-11 Cdn less than most places around town, and if you purchase a case of 12, an even better price ($1 less/bottle). I will definitely pick up a case or two of this over the next few paychecks and let this excellent "Special Reserve" settle into it's rightful place as a daily sipper for me.
Todd
