ThePortForum.com

At The RAF Club, Piccadilly, London.

The links:

• Organisation thread;
• Placemats;
• 1955 Graham’s Vintage Port;
• 1957 Graham’s Quinta dos Malvedos Vintage Port;
• 1958 Graham’s Quinta dos Malvedos Vintage Port;
• 1962 Graham’s Quinta dos Malvedos Vintage Port;
• 1964 Graham’s Quinta dos Malvedos Vintage Port;
• 1965 Graham's Malvedos;
• 1966 Graham;
• 1968 Graham's Malvedos;
• 1970 Graham;
• 1976 Graham's Malvedos;
• 1978 Graham's Malvedos;
• 1979 Graham's Malvedos;
• 1982 Graham's Malvedos;
• 1984 Graham's Malvedos;
• 1985 Graham;
• 1986 Graham's Malvedos;
• 1987 Graham's Malvedos;
• 1988 Graham's Malvedos;
• 1990 Graham's Malvedos;
• 1992 Graham's Malvedos half bottle #1 and; half bottle #2;
• 1995 Graham's Malvedos half bottle #1 and; half bottle #2;
• 1996 Graham's Malvedos;
• 1998 Graham's Malvedos;
• 1999 Graham's Malvedos;
• 2001 Graham's Malvedos;
• 2003 Graham;
• 2004 Graham's Malvedos;
• 2006 Graham's Malvedos;
• 2008 Cask Sample (work in progress)*;
• Review of the evening as a whole.

*Please note that the 2008 Cask Sample was donated to this tasting by the Symington family before the final blend was complete so this may not accurately represent what the 2008 Graham's or Graham's Malvedos will be, should either of these be approved and declared later in 2010.

Placemats:

Link: The Graham’s Vertical, held on 22nd March 2010.

DRT, having reached at least the Malvedos 1976, reports that his WOTN (so far) is Graham’s 1970, and that:

DRT, by email, wrote:I'm jealous that I don't have any 80.

And I’m at The Graham’s Vertical, so I’m not at all jealous. No no no, not at all.

I'm jealous of you both, as I'm at neither tasting.

Apparently G70 still DRT’s WOTN.

DRT by email, wrote:But 82 to 88 wins placemat of the night, all excellent.

Placemats:

• ’55, ’57, ’58, ’62, ’64, ’65;
• ’66, ’68, ’70, ’76, ’78, ’79;
• ’82, ’84, ’85, ’86, ’87, ’88;
• ’90, ’92, ’95, ’96, ’98, ’99;
• ’01, ’03, ’04, ’06, ’08.

However DRT has not said how many of these placemats have yet been completed presumably at least the first three.

Apparently all complete, and voting is in progress, doubtless overseen by Argentine, Iranian, Venezuelan and Zimbabwean monitors.

Graham’s WOTN: 1970.
Maldedos WOTN: secret until a source has been located.

I'm really looking forward to the notes from your tasting. What a dream!

Maldedos WOTN: 1986.

The votes for the Malvedos of the night were, in rough order, 1986, 1965 & 1964 (tied), 1987, 2001, 1957 and 2008. The 1970 won Graham's of the night, followed by 1966, being the only two which received any votes.

Is there a general rule about the difference? Is there something that Malvedos consistently has more (or less) of it than the regular blend?

My favourite pic of the night:
Thanks again to Jacob and Derek and as well to Julian for contributing port whilst not being there, but your spirit was definitely with us.

Axel

I want to thank Jacob for all the work he did organizing this fantastic, I dare say once-in-a-lifetime tasting. I had truly wonderful time and am now paying the price with a bit of jet lag so I'll keep this post short for now.

It was an honor to have Paul Symington and Richard Mayson join us and Paul did a great job providing some very informative facts about each vintage. The wines were brilliant and reinforces something I've often mentioned, Graham's and Malvedos have produced the most consistently good Ports over the past 55 years.

Many thanks to Paul Symington and Richard Mayson for joining us that evening and to the Symingtons, Axel, Chris, Derek, and Julian for gratuitously providing extra bottles to help boost the lineup. This also wouldn't have happened without the help of the decanting committee (I think Ray, Derek, Andy and Axel), so it was very much a team effort which is exactly what is about.

Andy Velebil wrote:The wines were brilliant and reinforces something I've often mentioned, Graham's and Malvedos have produced the most consistently good Ports over the past 55 years.

Yes, this was something that really stuck out at this tasting; even the very old Malvedos were very good wines and there were few that seemed to underperform. Thank goodness, too, that the inevitable few dodgy bottles were on the 1990s placemat and not any earlier...

jdaw1 wrote:Is there a general rule about the difference? Is there something that Malvedos consistently has more (or less) of it than the regular blend?

According to Paul Symington, in the early years the Malvedos was made from wines produced in the region of Quinta dos Malvedos (though little coming from the Quinta itself due to its tiny production). Alex Liddell's Port Wine Quintas of the Douro says, I think, that by the mid-1970s it was predominatly from Quinta do Tua due to the poor condition of Malvedos. More recently it has included more wine from Quinta dos Malvedos itself and since 1998 has been a proper single quinta Port (and named as such, which might be reflected in the tasting note database?). Of course the size of the Quinta has increased massively since the 1950s; Paul showed me a facisnating map of the individual planting blocks in the quinta which really brought this out.

One thing I try to do at these tastings is see if there is an "signature taste" to the wines. Here, what I particularly noticed was that the Malvedos often has that very sweet immediate taste that one associates with a Graham but this is followed by a fairly long and elegant aftertaste that is notably dryer. I suppose the sweetness on the end of the palate of a normal Graham's comes from elsewhere (perhaps Tua or Lages?).

As I told Derek, I will post my TN's on each wine but it will have to wait until after I write my article for an upcoming newsletter. But as soon as it's out, I'll copy them all in the appropriate threads here.

I've uploaded the menu cards from the evening.

Jacob, thank you very much for the fantastic organisation. For me, this was the first time that we did not have to discuss about smelly glasses or other smell sources in the RAF club. This tasting was just as enjoyable as the line-up was.
So the portwines were just gorgeous and could be tasted with great pleasure.
Also thanks to everyone cleaning and polisching the glassware and of course to the decanting team.

This was a stupendous event..

..but for the 48hr hangover that followed...

Biggest surprises were the 1965 - a vintage that even Derek was resigned to being a weaker year - and the 1986, which managed to be a match - if not more than a match - for both the '85 & 87..

2001 was the dark horse - still closed and immature, but a potentially stunning wine, given another decade or three.

Jacob - you're a star - the organisation was faultless..!

Tom

A number of things will stay with me following this tasting:

The great smell as I walked along the hallway at the RAF club and new where I was going just by following the smell;
The consistency of both the Graham's and Malvedos ports across 6 decades
The outstanding 80's - 6 great wines that we tasted
The ability of TPF to pull together tastings that continue to raise the bar!

Thank you to Jacob for taking the lead, the decanting team for all their hard work and to our guests, Paul and Richard, for the insight they provided.

For me, wine of the night was a tough call. It helped being allowed to choose a young and old port - but not much! Of the senior generation, I edged the 1964 over the 1965, trusting my first impressions.

Of the younger generation, I expected to (and did) thoroughly enjoy the 1987, a wine which I have tasted a few times in the last 18 months and have been desperate to buy some! I was surprised how much all the Malvedos wines from 1982, 1984, 1986, 1987 and 1988 impressed me. They stand up extremely well against the excellent Graham's vintages. I did however love the 1986. The comment on my tasting notes says "buy!".

Thankfully, I did drink a lot of water, so the headache was not too bad on Tuesday.

Paul Symington has commented on this tasting on the Graham's Blog on Facebook.

The was another great landmark tasting in the short history of The overwhelming impression left on me was the great consistency in the quality of the wines, especially from the early 1980s onwards. The Graham's vinatges all showed well, although the 1985 can do better, but certainly did not put their Malvedos siblings to shame.

It was great to have Paul and Richard with us for this tasting and I have to say a very big thank you to Paul and the Symington family for supplying a significant number of hard to find vintages of Malvedos. Thanks also to Jacob for his faultless organisation and to the "ladies in the kitchen", Andy and Ray, for hand-washing and polishing over 400 glasses. Good job guys!

Now then, what next? Anyone for "A Complete Parallel Vertical of Ferreira v Sandeman - 1815 to 2007"?

Jacob,

thank you very much for organising this event. It was brilliant. Also thank you very much to Andy and Ray for cleaning and polishing so many glasses. Also thank you very much to Paul Symington and Richard Mayson for the insite and coments. Special thanks to Derek for his tenacious sense for completness
The consistency was mind blowing. For me the very old Malvedos and 55 Grahams were amazing. The 65 Malvedos edged it for me. The 80's were just something spectacular. All of them were in such good form only the 86 and 87 stuck out on these really excellent ports. Ports i found flawed were 76, 78, 79 and 90. From the very young wines 2001 stood out as well for me the 2008 cask sample!

Hope we can do this again!

regards

WS1

DRT wrote:Now then, what next? Anyone for "A Complete Parallel Vertical of Ferreira v Sandeman - 1815 to 2007"?

jdaw1 wrote:Posts proposing a Sogrape or Sandeman tasting moved to Sogrape: Sandeman; Ferreira; Offley by jdaw1.

Me and my big mouth!

A late addition to this tasting was 2003 Graham’s, hereby linked.