Two fabulous Tawnies: 40 and 50 Year Old from Graham’s

Graham’s have recently launched a new 50-year-old tawny. I tasted this alongside their 40- year-old for reference.

Graham’s 40 Year Old *****

Pale brick red-tawny with a golden-green tinged amber rim; wonderfully effusive on the nose with a delicate spicy lift and an aroma and flavour redolent of creamy Brazil nuts, melifluous dried fruit, fresh and seamless all the way through to a long, oh so delicate, filigree finish. Some tawnies of this age can be over-sweet and ponderous but (at 5.4 Baumé) this has perfect balance and poise. 19

Graham’s 50 Year Old *****

There are two main lotes or components in this new wine: a wine from 1969, originally set aside by Peter Symington to mark the birth of his son Charles (now head winemaker) and lote from 1970 and 1973 which was blended in 1982. Over half of this evaporated over the ensuing period which gives this wine its remarkable richness and concentration (with a Baumé reading of 7.3). Remarkable colour, slightly deeper than the 40 year old with amber-red to walnut brown at the centre with a broad amber-tawny rim and a characteristic green tinge to the rim; spellbindingly uplifting on the nose with delicate blossom, dried fruit and butterscotch aromas, showing-off the beautiful piquancy of age; gloriously rich with sublime creamy mouthfeel and freshness that belies its age, leathery, spicy complexity (nutmeg, cinnamon) mid-palate seamlessly leading to a graceful finish that goes on forever. This is a wine immediately impresses you with its textural richness and focus on the palate yet it is the overall delicacy, finesse and perfect poise on the finish that resonates. There can only be one mark for a wine with this provenance and calibre: 20