1985 W & J Graham's Vintage Port

The vintage port that the Symingtons chose to showcase in their port tasting during the recent annual meeting of the PFV and it's easy to see why. Still extremely dark with a clean, assertive, dry finish after thrillingly glamorous, layered fruit with black-pepper notes. Gorgeous. (JR)

Deep garnet with narrow bricky rim, darker in colour than the Warre's 1985 and also 'darker' in aroma. Still marked by black fruits. Thick and chewy with a touch of eucalyptus but not as much as on the Warre's 1963. And then a grainy, mocha aftertaste and a very long finish. Still more to show, I think, even though this is already a mature wine.

This wine will be released next year, recorked and relabelled as part of their first Private Cellars collection. Deep garnet with narrow bricky rim, darker in colour than the Warre's 1985 and also 'darker' in aroma. Still marked by black fruits. Thick and chewy with a touch of eucalyptus but not as much as on the Warre's 1963. And then a grainy, mocha aftertaste and a very long finish. Still more to show, I think, even though this is already a mature wine.  (JH)