Tasted at the official launch at Christie's in London on 18th June 2014.
Unofficially from the 1882 vintage from a private reserve bought by A. J. Symington in 1922. Only one of three casks being offered for sale at €5,500 per bottle.
Incredibly intense and concentrated citrus nose. More red in the colour than I was expecting. Thick, viscous mouthfeel - very smooth and fresh. Fabulously complex with none of the clawing acidity that often comes with wood aged ports of this era. The finish goes on forever.
This is a stunning wine. The presentation is worthy of the contents.
"The first duty of Port is to be red" Ernest H. Cockburn
In the 1920s, AJ Symington bought four barrels of port from the 1882 vintage. The wines were bought from a Douor farmer and then moved to Vila Nova de Gaia when bought by AJ Symington. Over the years one of these has been used to support the Graham 30 and 40 year old tawnies and to top up the other three barrels. It has been decided to bottle one of the remaining casks into 656 bottles with the remaining two barrels being left for the next generation of the family and a commitment to leave the barrels untouched until at least 2025. In 2011 Andrew Jefford was staying with the Symingtons and tried a sample of this wine after dinner. He was extremely impressed and published an article on his experience in the World of Fine Wine magazine.
The wine is being sold in a Portuguese hand blown crystal decanter (to represent the Portuguese origin of the wine), with Scottish silver banding (to represent the Scottish origins of AJ Symington) and in a calfskin box made by Smythson of Bond Street (which links to the diary kept by Paul's grandfather during his time in the trenches, which was written in a Smythson diary).
Ne oublie - never forget - is the Graham family motto.
The colour of treacle, a deep gold but with a light green rim. 30% opaque. Slight rosemary on the nose, which is fresh and lively and full of a deep honey. Thick in texture, coating the inside of the mouth and tongue beautifully. Rich and powerful marmalade acidity providing a perfectly clean focus. There is lots of bitter-sweet dark marmalade and crustallised sugar - and a hint of the rosemary. Rosemary infused acidity on the aftertaste, then an incredibly big finish powered by the citrus flavours and burnt brown sugar. A wonderful taste of history - the story is as good as the wine. A lovely port, aimed at the super-luxury market sector as shown by its launch at Christie's and surrounded by paintings with auction guide prices of several million pounds.
Top Ports in 2023: Taylor 1896 Colheita, b. 2021. A perfect Port.
2024: Niepoort 1900 Colheita, b.1971. A near perfect Port.
