Taylor and Graham at Bonhams, Thursday 21 October 2010

[jdaw1]

Taylors & Grahams Port Masterclass
101 New Bond Street
London W1
Thursday 21 October at 6.00pm

The background to the production of Graham's and Taylor's Vintage Ports will be explained by the Managing Directors of the two companies; Paul Symington for Grahams and Adrian Bridge for Taylors. The best 6 vintages of the last 40 years , 1970, 1977, 1985, 1994, 2000, 2007, will be tasted side by side and Richard Mayson , the well-known writer on Port, will act as moderator.

This is a rare opportunity to compare the styles of two of the finest Vintage Ports on the market under the tutorship of the leading experts on the subject. Places are strictly limited and tickets are currently available at £95 per head. To reserve your place please contact Harriet Joll at wine@bonhams.com or telephone 08700 273622.

Presumably they couldn’t agree on whether the seventh-best was ’91 or ’92.

[Alex Bridgeman]

Pity - I'm in Milton Keynes that night or I would have tried to go. Oh well.

[uncle tom]

Cookie and I will be on parade, and also plan to have lunch at the CP - c. 13.20 - should anyone care to join us..

Tom

[Paul Symington]

Just in case you are interested, I have written some comments on last night's tasting that Cynthia will shortly put on the Graham's Blog.
Good to see members of The Port Forum present.
Thanks for the support!

Paul

[jdaw1]

At the end of the tasting I made an appeal for Port to be served in decent sized wine glasses. In the UK Port is often served in small and very inappropriate glasses, where it is difficult to appreciate the colour and the aroma of these great wines. I also suggested that Vintage Port could be served at less formal occasions. Too often Vintage Port in the UK is associated with formal dining, when these wines can equally be enjoyed round a kitchen table with fine food at any informal lunch or dinner with friends. Few wines give such intense pleasure as Vintage Port, so they should not be kept only for formal occasions.

You may be quite sure that these requests have been thoroughly granted by many of those on .

[RAYC]

Many thanks for this - I really enjoyed the tasting.

I actually managed to get down some proper TNs at this event, but some initial thoughts:

- this was my first tasting of both the T70 and T77. Unfortunately the T77 did not show perfectly, but both were very nice wines. On the night, though (and not just because Paul has posted here), I thought that the eldest 3 Graham ports really outshone them. Perhaps the '85 was no suprise, but I would find it hard, on the basis of that tasting, to justify the premium for aged Taylor port on the secondary market if buying in any quantity for personal drinking pleasure (though undoubtedly i hope to own a few bottles of each at some point).

- the G70 was fabulous, but the G85 really was my type of port. More peppery and bold licquorice/anise flavours vs the elegance of the '70, and possibly a better candidate as an after-dinner port becauase of that. I really enjoyed this (and the relative QPR goes without saying), and will definitely seek out a few bottles.

- I found it quite difficult to enjoy the 1994s, let alone the 2000s. The 2007s were massively fruity but, surprisingly I thought, more approachable (marginally). What struck me when drinking these was:

i) I'm not a good talent spotter - I am definitely swung by current drinking credentials rather than future potentail. I have noticed this before with the Dow '80 and Vesuvio '05, which I couldn't get as excited as others about.

ii) a number of the '97s I have had recently (including the G97 at the Graham's Lodge earlier in the summer) are, to my palate, drinking really well right now, even if they don't have the stuffing to go the distance in the same way that a T'94 or G'94 might. As a purchaser who, if not cost-conscious, is finding the amount i am spending on port increasingly alarming, these in my opinion represent good value for current drinking by comparison with the more illustrious vintages either side.

[jdaw1]

There is a maxim, frequently cited on this bulletin board, that ‟There is no such thing as too much G85”. You have reached the same conclusion.

[uncle tom]

The wines were offered in pairs, oldest first. The glasses were filled from bottles, and nothing was said about decanting - some glasses contained a little sediment..

Of the 70's, both were very good, but I sensed the Taylor may soon start to lose a little steam. The Graham was very robust, and will probably still show well in another 40 years.

For the 77's, the 'Peter Pan' era for this vintage seems to have passed, and the wines no longer have that awkward combination of age without maturity. On its own, the Taylor would have been quite well received, but the Graham showed much more depth and complexity.

In terms of colour, the first two pairs were near identical, but this was to change for the 85's. The T85 looked painfully pale for it's age, and when set alongside the inky Graham, the contrast was quite startling. Both drank quite well, but the Graham is still well short of mature, while the Taylor is rather weak and unlikely to last well.

While the first two pairs showed a modest win for Graham, the G85 towered over its rival, and was probably the best wine of the night.

Come the 94's and I noted that both were a tad spirity. The Graham had the better nose, the Taylor the better colour. On the palate there was little to choose, but the Taylor had the edge. "Not for old bones" I noted against both these wines. A narrow win for Taylor, but not enough to justify the huge difference in price.

The 2000's were rather closed as one might expect, and there was little to separate the two in terms of palate; but both the colour and nose of the Graham were superior.

The Graham 2007 was dark rich and aromatic, and outgunned the Taylor on all fronts - 'Winey - not right' I wrote of the T07..

So, a clear victory for Graham, and a very pleasant evening.

Tom

[RAYC]

I recall it being mentioned that the '70s, '77s and '85s had been decanted at "lunchtime" and the '94s, '00s and '07s "earlier in the morning".