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Opened 23.30, double decanted 07.45, tasted 18.00. Mature red colour, 70% opaque - looking rather lovely. Restrained on the nose showing only a little fruit. Nicely balanced palate with elegant raspberry jelly fruit over some soft tannins. The fruit is beautiful, ripe without being excessively sweet...

1994 Quinta do Vesuvio. Opened at 19.00, decanted at 09.00. Dark Red and still opaque. Wonderfully perfumed nose, rich black cherry adorned by lavender and lilac. Pretty but also packed with fruit. The texture on the palate is divine, like melting chocolate sliding over the tongue. There is so much ...

Opened at 21.00. Double decanted at 06.45. Tasted at 19.40.

Mature red colour with a copper coloured rim, 80% opaque. Baked and raisiny on the nose. Sweet and raisiny palate with dry tannins. Baked, but pleasant enough. 86/100.

Decanted at 18.30, returned to the bottle at 20.30 and vacuvined. Allowed to stand in the glass for 45 minutes before tasting. A rich velvet red colour, 80% opaque. A little subdued on the nose at first but swirling the wine bought out some lovely redcurrant jelly. Beautifully balanced on the palate...

Opened at 23.00, double-decanted at 07.30 and tasted at 18.25. Mature red appearance, 70% opaque. Muted on the nose showing a little raisined fruit. Redcurrant cordial palate. A wine which is sweet, simple and perfectly pleasant with a moderate length finish and tannins nearly fully integrated. 86/1...

Opened at 23.30, doube-decanted at 07.45 and tasted at 19.30. Dark red colour, 80% opaque. Lots of blackcurrant on a fruit-forward nose. The blackcurrant dominates the early palate with generous amounts of fruit but also seriously imposing acidity. The wine is nicely flavoured and wholly inoffensive...

Opened 23.30, double decanted 07.45, tasted 17.50. Paler than most of the wines at this tasting at 70% opacity, but attractive appearance nevertheless. Bright and fresh on an extremely attractive nose. Gentle and fragrant strawberry on the palate, beautifully framed with gentle tannins and elegant a...

Decanted at 14.45, tasted at 18.40. A deeply coloured rich red appearance, 80% opaque. Very little showing on the nose, perhaps a little lemon oil if the imagination is worked hard. Lovely texture on the palate, smooth dark cherry and bramble fruit - fruit which is vigorous, sweet and very generous....

Opened at 23.00, double-decanted at 07.30 and tasted at 18.15. Looking to be at the early stages of maturity, slightly cloudy and opaque as a result. Slightly aggressive red- and whitecurrant fruit on the nose. But these blend together to deliver a delicious sensation on the first sip; fabulous frui...

A tasting note taken when the wine was being decanted, after being open for 14 hours. Fonseca 1994, opened 19.00, decanted 09.00. Black cherry juice in colour. Rich and complex fruit salad on the nose, so many different types of berry and cut fresh fruit. The fruit on the palate is slightly carameli...

Very dark in colour, the darkest of all the wines at this 1994 horizontal at 95% opacity. Very restrained on the nose, but some work reveals some slightly sour blackcurrant fruit. The entry onto the palate is similarly restrained, but then the blackcurrant bursts into life on the mid-palate. A wonde...

Decanted at 18.30, returned to the bottle at 20.30 and vacu-vined. Allowed to stand in the glass for 30 minutes before tasting. Slightly cloudy, dark red in colour with a black tone to red. Fresh bramble fruit on the nose. On the palate the fruit is sweet and a little jammy but the palate has good a...

Opened at 21.00, decanted at 06.15 and tasted at 18.25. A mature copper red colour, 70% opaque. Attractive fruit on the nose, fruit which is bright and lively. On the palate the fruit has a nice perfume and some surprisingly firm tannins. The perfume from the fruit also shows on the aftertaste befor...

Deep red in colour, 90% opaque. Vibrant blackcurrant nose, a smell which pours out of the glass - fresh and full of fruit. Icing sugar dusted redcurrant fruit fills the mouth and holds together with an attractive balance. Rich redcurrant aftertaste, a little sweet with the fruit merging with a littl...

Some thoughts on blinding and bottles/decanters. The ‘58 tasting in 2014 which utilised the blinding method outlined by JDAW, saw bottles arriving and being decanted into identical San Peligrino bottles, with a shipper tag then being hung onto the SP bottle. The use of identical SP bottles being ne...

Available by the glass (@£29 for 100ml) from a jeroboam kept in an ice bucket on the bar at the Oxford & Cambridge Club. Drunk there with Glenn Elliott. Graham 1982, bottled in 4.5 litre jeroboam in 2018. Polished orange colour, the colour of old oak. A slight dryness and dustiness to the nose, ...

Unknown vintage port bottled by Christopher & Co, believed to be Graham 1927. A wonderful, rich brick red. Lots of orange in the colour, a little yellow; about 40% opaque. Popped and poured straight from the decanter, the nose is fragrant and floral with dried vine fruit, candied cherries, fresh...

Gordon’s Old Wood Tawny, drawn from the cask. Drunk at Gordon's Wine Bar with Glenn Elliott. A very pleasant tawny reserve giving a satisfying sweet and fat dried fruit. 87/100. Drunk 15-May-24.

Graham 2003. The youngest of the wines at this Graham vertical, but still 21 years old. A mature rose red colour with a medium rim. Bright fruit on the nose, bramble with some soapy redcurrant. Gentle tannins sit in the bramble fruit giving a great balance to a big, rich mouthful of wine. The balanc...

Graham 2000. Dark red colour with a wide rim. Restrained on the nose but bringing some sweet fruit on the palate - although a little closed and unbalanced with the fruit very sweet and only a trace of the tannins which would be desired to match the sweetness. Perfectly pleasant on the palate, but th...

1997 Grahams. The deepest coloured of the wines at this tasting; dark red with a black tone to the colour and a narrow rim. Rich in the nose with fresh fruit salad complexity and a faint hint of pineapple. Fresh and youthful. The palate is rounded while still youthful with black cherry and a little ...

Graham 1994, a bottle which had lost its front label but whose identity was confirmed by both the back label and the cork. Deep red in colour with a medium rim. Big on the nose, showing fruit salad chews and canned cherry; big, green and herbaceous overtones lying above the fruit. Fragrant and sweet...

Graham 1991. A mature rose red colour, 50% opaque. Surprising on the nose — salad leaves and cranberries, really savoury and meaty. Sweet fruit, a little flabby on the palate with limited acidity and tannins which are barely visible withing the sweet and jammy fruit. The finish is good; being persis...

Graham 1985. Dark red with some maturity in the tone; 70% opaque. Attractive nose, no more mature than the 1983 but still bright and attractive. Sweet on the palate with honeyed fruit. Very smooth, very ripe fruit with a good grip and a little menthol heat. Some heat on the finish before the bramble...

Graham 1983. The darkest Port until the 1997. Dark red in colour with a narrow rim. Youthful dark fruit on the nose, sweet and ripe. Restrained entry; the fruit builds beautifully with lovely grip within the black cherry. Dark chocolate and dried blackcurrant. Fabulous blackcurrant finish with great...