GRAHAM

This offers a distilled plum and boysenberry essence, with a racy feel, as spearmint and graphite notes drive through. As the finish kicks in, this turns toward the dark side, with ganache, charcoal and tar elements. Has the showy ripeness of the vintage but is backed by a decidedly dry feel on the finish, imparting a sense of precision despite the heft. Drinking range: 2030 - 2055 Rating: 98 James Molesworth, The Wine Spectator (Oct 2018)

The 2016 Vintage Port is a blend of 37% Touriga Nacional, 42% Touriga Franca and various others. It comes in with 115 grams of residual sugar. A bit bigger than Dow's this year, this is more intense as well. The better wine of these two benchmarks seems to be this Graham's. Tight on the finish, aromatic and very flavorful, this actually opens rather well and shows off its lovely fruit. The Dow's will be approachable a bit earlier, perhaps, and this may reward aging even more. As always, Graham's is wonderfully delicious. That's one hallmark of the house. I'm not sure this is a truly great Graham's, but at the moment, it is enticing, with plenty of potential for improvement. Drinking range: 2025 - 2070 Rating: 95 Mark Squires, robertparker.com (Jul 2018)

The 2016 Graham’s Vintage Port is inky black in colour. The bouquet is voluminous and intense, the aromas almost shrouding your head! Blackberry, black olive, clove and a touch of smoke, just a hint of pencil box in the background. The palate is brilliant, quite brilliant. Supple tannin, a satin-like texture, perfect balance and unerring purity, this is a fabulous Graham’s that effortlessly fans out and caresses the senses on the finish. This Graham’s has huge potential and is going to give a lot of pleasure for many years. Drinking range: 2026 - 2080 Rating: 96 Neal Martin, www.vinous.com (Jun 2018)

All the Symington wines had exceptionally deep colours. This one has a particularly deep blackish-purple, still with a blueish hue. On the already-expressive nose I found prunes, something floral and a note of balsam, plus lots of freshness. Relatively open on the palate too. Rather elegant and the hugely sweet fruit almost covers a massive charge of silky tannins. This is almost like a sweet, tannic table wine. Pure and polished. Sweeter than most. One of those wines that some people might easily persuade themselves could be drunk relatively young, Satin textured. Drinking range: 2040 - 2065 Rating: 17.5+ Jancis Robinson OBE MW - www.JancisRobinson.com (May 2018)

This wine has every single facet of flavour and energy that I adore in vintage Port. The nose is epic and all-encompassing and the power and attack on the palate is relentless and also insanely pleasurable at the same time. Infinitely layered and lasting for minutes on the palate I went back to taste this Port three times such was the magnetic appeal of its profound flavours. While this is a dense and indulgent wine it has exquisite freshness, too, and the balance is nothing short of perfect. Rating: 20+ Matthew Jukes www.matthewjukes.com (May 2018)

A blend from four quintas: Malvedos (41%), nearby Tua (25%) as well as Vila Velha and Vale de Malhadas in the Douro Superior, Touriga Nacional, Touriga Franca, Sousão and old, mixed vines: very deep, inky colour; super-ripe, floral but still quite raw on the nose, needing time to knit together; rich plummy opulence backed by dark chocolate intensity and spicy tannic grip, big and bold on the finish. Voluptuous. Fabulous richness. This is one for the long haul and is already very, very impressive. 6,325 cases. Rating: 19 Richard Mayson, www.richardmayson.com  (May 2018)

This wine has every single facet of flavour and energy that I adore in vintage Port. The nose is epic and all-encompassing and the power and attack on the palate is relentless and also insanely pleasurable at the same time. Infinitely layered and lasting for minutes on the palate I went back to taste this Port three times such was the magnetic appeal of its profound flavours. While this is a dense and indulgent wine it has exquisite freshness, too, and the balance is nothing short of perfect. Rating: 20+ Matthew Jukes www.matthewjukes.com (May 2018)

ckbone of Quinta dos Malvedos which saw 13 mm of rain in mid September. The blend includes some Sousão for colour and freshness. Plus lots of Touriga Franca from Quinta do Tua, the one with the old terraces (for Stone Terraces) still. Only 230 g per vine from there. Plus wine from two other properties, Quinta da Vila Velha across the river from Malvedos and Quinta do Vale de Malhadas from Douro Superior upriver – mainly Touriga Franca. In volume, 2016 produced 25 to 30% less than in 2011 which wasn’t a big crop. 6,325 cases made, some in the traditional tappit hen size. All the Symington wines had exceptionally deep colours. This one has a particularly deep blackish-purple, still with a blueish hue. On the already-expressive nose I found prunes, something floral and a note of balsam, plus lots of freshness. Relatively open on the palate too. Rather elegant and the hugely sweet fruit almost covers a massive charge of silky tannins. This is almost like a sweet, tannic table wine. Pure and polished. Sweeter than most. One of those wines that some people might easily persuade themselves could be drunk relatively young, Satin textured. Drinking range: 2040 - 2065 Rating: 17.5+ Richard Hemming MW - www.JancisRobinson.com (May 2018)