Review: Graham’s Six Grapes Reserve Porto
Hey everyone. So, I’ve decided that I should start adding tasting reviews of the different things I drink up on this site so that anyone who is interested can try the different beverages. This afternoon I came home with my second port of the week, Graham’s Six Grapes Reserve Port. This is a vintage character style port, described by Karen Macneil in her Wine Bible not so much as an imitation of the vintage port style, but as a super and more fruity ruby style port. All in all, ports in this style offer excellent quality for the price, making them good buys for those wanting a tasty port but not wanting to break their wallet. This particular bottle goes for just under $20.
Like all ports, this wine is fortified with brandy, and has a 19.5%abv that shows in its aroma. On first sniff, the aroma is intoxicating, a heady and beautiful combination of alcohol and full fruit. As one takes a few more sniffs, there is also a hint of light caramel and chocolate in the nose. There are also flavors of spiced rum that are evocative of Christmas, but those were more subtle and took longer to come out.
The taste is one of luscious fruit and raisins. The wine is sweet, rich, and powerful; everything a moderately priced port should be. The taste has kick, fills the mouth, and the wine warms the belly as it goes down. It is both more full and sweeter when compared to the Dow’s Fine Tawny. Altogether, an excellent wine, though my taste runs to drier wines, especially in the case of port and sherry.
note: image obtained from http://www.flickr.com/photos/sesen/1298809343/ under creative commons license.
