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Tasted as part of a vertical of 24 Graham's and Graham's Malvedos vintages at The RAF Club, Piccadilly, London, on 22nd March 2010.

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;
• 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.

Alas I was unable to take a tasting note of this port.

A lovely rose red colour with quite a deeply coloured transparent centre. Warm and rich on the nose, sweet and inviting. Thick and rich on the palate, full of complexity and with a touch of heat that faded over the course of the evening. A hot aftertaste preceeds a long and lingering richness on the finish. Simply delicious, drinking beautifully. 93/100.

Still darkish in the middle, but quite pronounced lightening to the edges. A slight disagreement with AHB in that I thought the nose was surprisingly subdued. On the palate extremely elegant, surprisingly dry and with a long aftertaste. Excellent stuff.

1955 Graham’s Vintage Port:
A light brown ruby color is starting to show some age. Plenty of cinnamon, rose pedals, and violets on the nose. Initially, a bit of spirit also expressed itself, but it went away the longer this got air in the glass. Like the nose, the palate was initially showing some heat. This also went away as it aired out and left the spices, and cinnamon to dominate. This bottle came off a little lighter bodied and drier than I expected for a Graham’s. However, as the evening went on this did put on more weight and I liked it much better several hours later as it became more expressive and filled out. Interesting to note this had a 3.6° Baumé. 94 points