1927 Graham

[Alex Bridgeman]

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 plum and a little Amalfi lemon. Showing its age on the palate, there is a considerable sweetness to the dusty honey. Gentle cocktail cherry fruit, balanced without showing any thickening in texture. Complex, so full of mature sweet fruit and bright nutmeg and cloves. In the 10 minutes this has been decanted, it has opened up and changed so much, such a wonderful wine. The spice is so concentrated. Cinnamon and black cherry compote on the finish; a touch of heat which is just enough to draw the attention back to the wine. An endless list of flavours move in and out of focus on the finish. Whatever this is, there are very few glasses of Vintage Port which are better than this one.

Popped and poured but drunk over the course of about 3 hours. The wine hit its peak after 90 minutes, stayed at its peak for about 30 minutes and then slowly — very, very slowly — started to decline a little. It was a really interesting opportunity to (a) share a bottle of something quite extraordinary between just two people over a leisurely lunch and (b) to follow the evolution of a wine this old as it opened up in the decanter and then started to fade.

And the cork, now a little drier, confirms the identity of the wine as Graham 1927. 98/100. Drunk with Glenn Elliott at 67 Pall Mall on 15-May-24.

[Glenn E.]

1927 Graham Vintage Port. Served to me blind by Alex Bridgeman at 67 Pall Mall. Very blind. Bottle kept carefully concealed, decanted in a different room, and not returned to the table until the guessing was over.

Fairly dark and youthful looking in the glass, not opaque, but with a color tone that suggests something older. There's significant garnet and some brick to the color, not purples and reds. Me, slightly jokingly: "First cut: older than the 90s." Alex: "which 90s?" Me: "What?" Alex: "1890s or 1990s?" Me, thinking he is joking: "1990s of course." Alex: [smiles]

The nose is beautiful. Floral but not flowery, fragrant but not perfumed, and fruity - mostly dried fruits in the cherry and blackberry range.

Me: "no, it's older than that. Possibly 60s." Alex: [smiles]

The palate is a rock star. Balanced and fruity. Some blackberries, some ripe red berries of some kind, and some black cherry. Hints of several baking spices but mostly cinnamon. The palate immediately makes me think of Gould Campbell, which I mention. Alex asks why, so I explain the flavors and colors. (GC tastes a lot like Graham to me, but with more stone fruits and usually slightly less acidity.) But after explaining, it no longer seems to fit so I switch to 1966 Graham as my guess.

We talk and drink for an hour or so. The Port goes extremely well with the scotch egg and I learn of a new condiment - piccalilly. Mustard with pickles. Who knew? My wife will love it, so we make a note to stop at Fortnum & Mason. Alex presses me for a guess. I stick with 1966 Graham, as the memory of that Port from the previous night's epic vertical is still fairly vivid.

I'm half right - it's a Graham. But it's almost 40 years older than my guess. A 1927. I believe it is only the second 1927 that I've ever tasted, the other being a Niepoort, and both have been astoundingly youthful for their age. Either could be slipped into a 1963 or 1966 horizontal and would probably stand out as a ringer for looking too young.

Initially, my instant-read score was 94 or 95. But as we sat and talked, the Port continued to get better. 95 for sure. No, 96. Maybe 97. Yes, that's it, 97 points. It takes it about 90 minutes to get there, and then holds there beautifully before slowly starting to fade. It doesn't have time to fade back to 95 because it's gone before that can happen.

I eventually have to beg off because I have a 6:00 pm dinner appointment. "Lunch" ends at about 5:45, but only because it had to.

I must have been a very good person in some previous life to deserve a friend such as Alex. Thank you for a wonderful day about town.