1955 Graham

[jdaw1]

Links:

• Review of the evening as a whole;
• 1955 Adam;
• 1955 Buckingham Palace Factory House Blend;
• 1955 Cockburn;
• 1955 Dow;
• 1955 Ferreira;
• 1955 Fonseca;
• 1955 González Byass;
• 1955 Graham;
• 1955 Mackenzie;
• 1955 Martinez;
• 1955 Niepoort;
• 1955 Quinta do Noval;
• 1955 Offley;
• 1955 Sandeman;
• 1955 Taylor;
• 1955 Warre;
• Placemats;
• Planning and arrangements.

Edit: and, with dinner,

• 1955 Chateau Longueville au Baron de Pichon-Longueville in magnum.

[jdaw1]

The Taylor, Sandeman, Graham, Offley, Dow & Cockburn have just been selected and stood up..

..all nicely cellared bottles with good levels..

[jdaw1]

G55: Dark red, 40% opacity. Some sweet fruit in the nose. Hot. Lots of faded red fruit. Very sweet, but the sugar wonderfully melded into the whole. Lovely.

In the first flight competition (Ad, BPFHB, C, D, Fr, F, GB, and G) scoring 41 points, the first place unanimity being broken only by RLC’s second-placement. The Gold Medal of this flight, and, again nearly unanimously, of the evening as a whole.

[DRT]

My note says: "Still youthful. Lots of fruit on the palate. Best of the flight. Spectacular."

I liked this a lot.

[AHB]

Deep colour, dark red, 60% opaque. Lovely on the nose, full of warm fruitcake and black licorice. Balanced, gorgeous impact. Perfect acidity, a very slight hint of tannin and masses of fruit. A great aftertaste, big and mouthfilling with lots of deep, dark orange flavours on the finish. My wine of the night at this tasting. 94/100.

[Chris Doty]

A most obvious port of the night. This was really the only truly complete wine of the evening. Very smooth, elegant, and full in the mouth, with still enough fruit left to add a feeling of opulence which was sorely lacking in the other wines. No rough edges, and while this doesn't have some of the racy verve of more recent stellar bottles (70 Warre, 94 Vesuvio, 85 Fonseca, etc), it is a lovely wine. 91 points

[Glenn E.]

Color: Darkish... possibly 4th darkest overall. Nice deep red.
Nose: A bit of a weird note - something like pickled/brandied fruits?
Palate: Nice tannins. Good fruit. A bit of a sour note, but that adds some depth.
Finish: Just okay, but intriguing. Makes you want more.

Score: 92 points. My #1 of the night. Also concensus #1 of the night.