For The Love Of Port

It's been a while, far too long in fact, since I've had a 10 year-old tawny. So when I saw a bottle of Graham's 10 Year Old a few days ago at a keen price I thought it was a good opportunity to get reacquainted.

It was bottled in 2012 so it was relatively fresh. On pouring it I was surprised by the slight reddish tint in the glass but on closer examination, when tipping the glass on it's side, I could see the the tawny tinges on the rim. Still, there was a reddish hue in the centre which was not how I remembered it from years ago.

The nose was drier than I had expected for a Graham. There was a mandarin rind thing going on accompanied by some nutty, maderised, spicy, ginger bread notes. The palate was equally restrained, again not what I expected from the Graham's. A hint of honey and orange rind followed almost immediately by a maderised, nutty, palate with a dry leathery finish. This is excellent for a 10 year old I'm thinking.

Me and my pals used to talk about how good the Graham's 10 was and how it was a good value. For some reason I drifted away from it but now I'm thinking I need to get some more.

Yumm...............................Mahmoud.

I've never been a big fan of this port, though recent bottlings are better than previous. I usually get the redish tinge in most 10 year Tawny's. Regardless, I'm glad the Sym's, and TFP as well, seem to be putting more efforts into their TWAIOA.


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Well, I'm glad to hear that quality has improved Andy, that's always good for the consumer. I'm in no position to say as this is my first bottle of Graham's 10 since the 90s if you can believe it. By the way, what does TWAIOA stand for?

Mahmoud

Mahmoud - TWAIOA - Tawny With An Indication Of Age.
I'll have to give this a go, now that I can actually buy it locally. I'm not generally fond of 10 yr old tawny but a few of the descriptors in the note suggest I might like it more than most