A blind tasting of Port wine is always a special occasion. Especially for those who had never before had the occasion to taste the full spectrum of Port wines. Right where it should be: in one of the wine cellars of the Port wine producers around Porto, Portugal, home to the original and very best Port wines. In these type of tastings one realises why Port wine is unrepeatable and non producible the right sort of way out of Portugal: a spectrum of eight glasses poured with a full plethora of colours, tastes and smells, all to be called Port wine, underlines why Port wine is essentially about a local centenary single culture, not to be found elsewhere, except in the form of its final product: Port wine coming from the Douro Valley, Porto wine region, demarcated since 1756.
I recently had the occasion to renew this pleasure with some USA friends. My good friend Joe Álvares Ribeiro had the Graham's cellars' doors opened to us and he, as usually, exceed in not only having organised for us a nice visit to the cellars but he also had it finished with a full spectrum top Port wines tasting.
Not to my surprise, we have agreed that the Graham's 20 Years Old, Tawny Port, Red, Portugal, is extremely balanced and an excellent top world class wine. Cheers Molly and Jim!
Luis Miguel Novais
