Grahams 2016 Vintage Port

Grahams 2016 Vintage Port in 75cl bottles.

W & J Grahams was founded in Oporto, Portugal’s second city, in 1820 by the two brothers William and John Graham and for nearly two hundred years Grahams Ports have been made by just two families, the Grahams and the Symingtons – in 1970 the Grahams sold the company to the Symington Family (owners of Dow, Cockburn, Warre, Vesuvio et al.) who brought with them their own rich heritage in the Port trade. Graham’s has a reputation as a producer of outstanding Vintage Port for well over a century.

Vintage Ports are only made on very exceptional years (usually three or four times in a decade). After the harvest, wines of Vintage potential are put into oak barrels called ‘pipes’. Some eighteen months later a careful and painstaking series of tastings is held to judge exactly which wines of different vineyards merit inclusion in the final blend. If the ideal blend is achieved, the wine is then bottled without any filtration whatsoever approximately 24 months after the original harvest. Vintage Port must then be matured for some ten to twenty years in cool dark cellars as it gradually achieves the outstanding style of a great wine. The bottles should always be stored lying down. Vintage Ports deposit a heavy sediment or ‘crust’ in the bottle while maturing and must be decanted before serving.

Grahams 2016 Vintage Port – The 2016 Graham’s Vintage Port will now follow in the footsteps of the legendary W & J Graham’s Vintages produced over the last two hundred years. Like most parts of the world, the Douro has not been isolated from the effects of climate change, and unusual weather conditions over recent years have often departed from those typically associated with classic vintage years. Fortunately, in 2016 the stars aligned and the year brought superbly structured and balanced wines, allowing us to announce a full vintage declaration.

Winemakers: Charles Symington and Henry Shotton.

6,325 nine litre cases bottled during May 2018 with no filtration.

Read the Fareham Wine Cellar Guide To Decanting Port.