1963 Graham Single Harvest Tawny (bottled 2021)

[jdaw1]

1963 Graham colheita, from a 5cl supplied by Vintage Wine and Port (• planning, • placemats, • Symington presentation). Tasted eight days after the official event. TNs: 1994; 1990; 1982; 1974; 1963.

Starts strong and dry, the dryness manifesting as mid-palate heat, with gentle brown sugars throughout. Some woodiness shows early, becoming gentle cedar mid-to-late palate. Again, late late palate dominated by acidity. Lovely balance; perhaps too gentle and delicate to be my favourite.

[jdaw1]

A smidge of the 1963 was left in the glass, and revisited two days later. Ooh, so much bigger and fuller. This colheita needs decanting, several days in advance, rather like a Madeira.

[jdaw1]

Twenty days later (from the other half of the tiny bottle): lovely sweetness, a hint of wood, and very very soft. Very very long, but for my palate lacks the size and bite of the youngsters.

[PhilW]

I loved the complexity of this; I had the '63, '74 and '94 roughly equal initially; the '74 more intense, the '63 beautifully well balanced and complex, and the '94 similar but much younger currently; all very good in different ways. Later I had the '74 over the '63.