Fantastic old tawny with a tight and lively palate of dried fruit, figs, bark and walnuts. Custard and some salted nuts, too. It’s full, sweet and glorious. Lovely candied fruit at the end. Drink now.

A warm, lush style, with brown bread, fig compote, ginger marmalade and date flavors coating the palate before streaks of bitter orange and almond kick in, imparting cut and enlivening the finish. A note of incense weaves around it all, adding intrigue.

An old, mature wine, but one that has kept its ripeness and richness. The concentration is so intense that one glass is almost enough (except it tastes so good). There are walnuts, bitter chocolate and a delicious clean aftertaste.

Salted caramel, salted almonds, dried blood orange, saffron and dried flowers. Beautiful texture with full body and delicate sweetness. Deep and generous, with a long and firm but rich finish. Lots of butterscotch. Dense at the finish. Drink or hold.

This Port, blended with grapes grown in a single year, is dense, smooth with toffee and dried fruits. The spirit is just there, giving a tight bite at the end. Drink this memorable wine now.

Suave and tawny, with stylish caramel, dried cherry and green tea notes gliding through. The flattering, sneaky long finish is underscored by hazelnut and dacquoise accents. Fresh enough for an aperitif, hedonistic enough for dessert.

- James Molesworth

The 1997 Single Harvest Tawny Port (that's called a "Colheita" traditionally, but some producers have decided to translate) is a field blend bottled in May 2018 with a bar-top cork and 108 grams of residual sugar. This is a somewhat different Graham's, drier, sterner and showing more power while deemphasizing its sugar. It is still quite good, to be sure, but not the sexy beast I expected. The complexity is still there, though, and this has a powerful finish. 

 This is very layered and beautiful with fantastic depth and caressing tannins that remind me of a 40-year-old vintage Port more than a vintage tawny. Full-bodied, very sweet and gloriously rich at the end. Just a hint of tannin, too. Love the finish.

Showing lots of power and plenty of depth, this is a radically different style than the Otima (Warre's) this issue. Intense, deep and packed with fruit, it lingers forever on the finish in the way a great tawny should—and this is a great tawny, flavorful, structured and deep. Not even 30 years old yet, it seems to be an overachiever for its relatively young age.

Bottled in 2018 after nearly 25 years in wood, this wine is sumptuous with its rich toffee and spice flavors. They contrast with the hints of fresh acidity from the wood aging, giving a dry core to the mature sweet fruits. The wine is completely ready to drink.

Toasted sesame, caramel, hazelnut and cinnamon notes lead the way, backed by a caressing feel on the finish, as sandalwood, golden raisin and bergamot accents chime in. Shows refinement throughout. Drink now. 200 cases made, 75 cases imported.  –JM

Earthy, spicy notes of cinnamon, clove and dried fruit, followed by a savoury, soft and rich palate showing burnt citrus peel depth.

Richly textured in a lovely contrast between supple and frisky, this wine focuses on generous almond flavors over a light touch of strawberries and cream. Its caramel and toffee notes clean up in the end; a bold Tawny to serve with a savory almond tart.

 A fresh and vivid single harvest colheita with orange peel, apple peel, Butter Brickle and hints of caramel. Medium body. Refined and beautiful. Sweet crunchy finish. Weightless yet very sweet. Ethereal. Drink now.

Editor's Choice

In the series of great single harvest Colheita Ports, this is at a perfect age. There is a fine treacle and spice character to the wine along with a touch of orange zest freshness. Drink this great Port now.

The 1974 Single Harvest Tawny Port (that's called a "Colheita" traditionally, but some producers have decided to translate) is a field blend bottled in May 2022 with a bar-top cork and 132 grams of residual sugar. A terrific Colheita, this dribbles sweet fruit and sugar over the finish while seeming bright and elevated. It is so fresh and balanced, that it is just terrific. Then, it adds all the typical flavors, the caramels and chocolates. This is great. 

Toffee, toasted sesame seed, salted caramel, green tea and hazelnut notes emerge slowly and steadily as this airs in the glass, backed by racy, embedded acidity through the lengthy finish. Shows some latent power too.

When you first approach this wine, it may appear fully mature in its orange marmalade richness, its zesty structure and length. What you many not notice is the cool tension, a current running underneath the flavors, bringing pale cranberry notes out of the vanilla scent of oak. Then it reveals scents of rose hips and spring grasses as it opens over the course of several days—still charged after 47 years.

This is a bright and rich Port with caramel and dried-fruit aromas and flavors. Full-bodied, sweet and so balanced. Light tannins. So fresh and vivid. Lovely Port with intensity and great length. Drink now.

An elegant aged tawny, with plenty of creamy, luscious flavors of butterscotch, crème brûlée, glazed apricot and sandalwood. Offers a silky mouthfeel, with a long, well-spiced finish backed by firm acidity. Drink now. 535 cases made.  –KM

The 1972 Single Harvest Tawny Port  is a beauty. It starts slow and builds to a nice crescendo, with the acidity emerging to cut the fruit. This elegant wine has a sweet finish to go with its vibrancy and energy. It's a pretty picture overall with caramel, molasses and hints of chocolate on the end, some typical Tawny flavors. Note: This comes with a bar-top cork.

This wine comes from a legendary year for Vintage Port, so it is fascinating to see how a wine from that year that was only bottled in 2018 has fared. The answer is amazingly. It is luscious and smooth, with fabulous old wood flavors blending with the ripe caramel and acidity.

This is glorious. Superb depth and finesse with balance and density that are so fitting for the greatness of the legendary 1963 vintage. Full-bodied, very sweet yet focused and showing just a hint of tannins. Very long and sweet on the finish. Love the complexity and subtlety of caramel, butterscotch and hints of dried fruits. Fantastic. Drink now.

Stylish, featuring white raisin, white sesame, white ginger and green tea notes leading off, followed by a flash of dried peach. Shows some Sherry aspects, with hazelnut and Brazil nut hints along the edges imparting texture, but this reverts to sweetness soon enough, letting the finish glide through. Drink now. 50 cases made, 20 cases imported.  –JM

A very different wine stylistically than the overachieving 1994, this isn't as rich in a way, but it has a few cards up its sleeve. It adds more of that wonderful complexity that great old Tawnies acquire—molasses, dark chocolate, seared caramel. It's rather fresh for the age too. It has plenty of power and fine acidity supporting the fruit as well. This is pretty beautiful.

From a year made famous by the Vintage wines, this Tawny is markedly fresh and lively, delivering a generous creamy richness that melds textures and flavors into luxurious density. Notes of ripe apricot and fresh herbs last in a brisk, peppery finish. A wine to contemplate on its own, long into the night.

Alluring, this pulls in both Madeira and Sherry-like characteristics, with an exotic range of buckwheat, black sesame seed, date, dried plum, green tea and Brazil nut notes all allied to sleek, mouthwatering acidity that provides the perfect counterbalance to the sweetness. Boasts a beguilingly subtle alder hint that frames it all in the end. Drink now. From Portugal.—J.M.

The 1950 Single Harvest Tawny Port (that's called a "Colheita" traditionally, but some producers have decided to translate) is a field blend bottled in September 2021 with a bar-top cork and 138 grams of residual sugar. This is coming to the end. Charles Symington said they have about half a cask left, enough for one more bottling. You are going to want some. This 2021 bottling is far fresher than another 1950 from a different producer on this trip. It shows you how they get more interesting with age, if the fruit holds up. This is gorgeous, complex and nuanced but also bright and lively. There is a touch of molasses here to go with the caramel and walnuts, but that just adds to the fun. Maybe you'll like the brilliant, younger and more affordable 1974 more, but this is special and a different experience. It is not so much a lot better, under whatever vague criteria I might use, but it is a lot different, a lot closer to an experience that is hard to replicate. Remember not to drink wine like this too warm. A slight chill to them is a good idea. 

This is old, but old as in its golden years. Dry yet mellifluously sweet, the wine has spice and great intensity. Its concentration is enormous, with old gold and acidity blending together. Drink this magnificent Port now. 

Time has intensified the core of date, toasted sesame, green tea, singed alder and Brazil nut notes in this authoritative colheita and the dry, focused, well-structured finish gives all the elements time to shine. Drink now. From Portugal.—J.M.

...its powerful depths immediately apparent, even if its freshness seems long gone. But consider it a bit longer and the wine adds stone fruit, dried apple and raw nut scents to its gracious texture and broad-shouldered concentration. Smoky, rich and fascinating, the flavors will expand out of a drop to completely fill your head.

Lush, open and expressive, with captivating violet, boysenberry and mulberry aromas and flavors that stream forth, underscored by a mouthwatering licorice snap note. This has lots of energy in reserve, too. 

A plump and juicy Graham with lots of iodine, plum and sweet-berry character. Some herb and mint, too. Medium-to full-bodied, very sweet and flavorful with lots of length. Fine tannins and refined character. Fresh and delicious. 3,000 bottles. One for earlier drinking. Try after 2028.

The 2020 Vintage Port is a blend of 25% Touriga Nacional, 40% Touriga Franca, 22% Sousao and various others, including a blend from old vines. It comes in with 118 grams of residual sugar after 18 months in old oak vats. This likely got a little extra incentive in terms of its declaration because of Graham's bicentenary, but it is a pretty good offering. Sweet and easy, this comes into a good place with just a couple of hours of aeration. It opens disjointed and angular, then resolves into a lovely Port with great fruit and good supporting structure. This needs some time. It should develop more and improve. When it gets to where it is going, it is going to be delicious. Let's start here, but plan on cellaring this. There were 3,000 bottles made in this bicentenary limited edition. 

It’s a very deep blue-black colour with an expressive, super-ripe nose of plum, mint and bergamot which springs from the glass. The palate is rich, velvety and voluptuous in typical Graham’s style. The initial richness makes the tannins, which show up on the ripe, broad, mouth watering finish. Wonderful purity and definition. A real wow of a wine!

Lush and inviting, with waves of cassis, melted red licorice, plum preserves and boysenberry reduction coursing through, carried by a velvety structure that lets this flow wonderfully. Flashes of apple wood and tar score the finish, which ends with authoritative cut. This is serious.

One of the more aromatic ports here, this is laced with cistus and eucalyptus. Lush in texture and concentrated, it was actually showing well at the time of this tasting—notwithstanding some power and pop. The more it aired out, though, the more power it showed. Even so, this remains a rather refined and suave Graham's. I'd call it subtly sexy.

The wine is packed with glorious black fruits that have immense backing tannins. It has a succulent edge of juicy acidity that sears the tannins and promises a great future.

Wow! Amazing aromas of crushed blackberry and blueberry, stems and rose petal. Entrancing. Full-bodied, very tight and powerful with ultra-fine tannins. Intense richness of crushed berries, chocolate, hazelnut and coffee. 5,250 cases. Try after 2026.

This has the plump sweetness of a Graham’s vintage, teeming with black fruit and saturated with tannins as chewy as the thick black skins of blueberries. Underneath the smoky oak tannins, there’s a gentle rose scent that hints at the wine’s development ahead.