GrahamsVintage Port 2003

This is a great Port, from a great brand. It is packed with solid, structured, rich and intense black fruit flavors. Its tannins show considerable aging potential. It is a big, ripe wine, balanced by a long, lingering dark aftertaste.

Violets, roses, spices, and candied dark fruits emanate from the glass of the murky black/purple colored 2003 Graham Vintage Port. After four days of air, this wine’s aromatics sweetened further, displaying jammy blackberry and blueberry scents. Bold, full-bodied, and expansive, the Graham benefited the most from extensive contact with air of all the 2003s tasted for this report. This opulently jammy wine assaults the palate with powerful yet soft layers of oily, candied red fruits as well as notes of tar and hints of mocha. A highly concentrated effort, it is creamy textured, suave, and reveals an admirably long finish filled with additional layers of dark fruits intermingled with spices.

Initially reticent aromas of dark chocolate and nuts; showed a high-pitched eucalyptus quality as it opened in the glass. Then almost shockingly huge and rich in fruit, with wonderfully lush, complex flavors of cassis, violet, minerals, spices, flowers and exotic chocolate. The tannins are seductively sweet, yet the finish boasts terrific focus, not to mention outstanding persistence. In terms of sheer palate-saturating flavor and texture, this runs a close second to Fonseca among these 2003s. For long aging.