"Richard Mayson
Graham's 1983 was served at the Saintsbury Club Dinner in the Vintner's Hall on 18th October 2016. This is one of the best wines of the vintage, a year over-shadowed by 1985 until the latter threw up one or two rather nasty surprises. Still deep and relatively youthful in colour (although the 83's were never the deepest of wines); still quite tight knit on the nose, mid-weight with gentle and rather lovey cherry fruit and the firm tannins that were the hallmark of the vintage. Standing up and holding together very well after thrity three years: there is still another 10 - 20 years of life in this wine. 17 **** Reviewed Nov 2016"
Graham’s was founded in Portugal in 1820 by two Scottish brothers William and John Graham and during the 19th century became one of the most highly regarded of all Port producers. Their success led to the building of the magnificent Graham’s Lodge in Gaia in 1890, and to the acquisition in the same year of the famous Quinta dos Malvedos, one of the finest vineyards in the Douro Valley. In 1882, Andrew James Symington, son of a Glaswegian father and Shetlander mother, sailed to Porto to work for Graham’s, thus beginning his family’s long association with this famous house. Although he left shortly after to establish his own Port house, his grandsons acquired the company when the Graham family offered it for sale in 1970. Today Graham’s owns the 85 hectare Malvedos estate together with its own small lagar winery, and the neighboring 22 hectare Quinta do Tua with its remarkable stone terraces. For nearly half a century, several members of the Symington family, whose heritage in Port dates back to the 17th century though Andrew’s Anglo-Portuguese wife, Beatriz Leitão de Carvalhosa Atkinson, have worked to enhance Graham’s superb Vintage Port reputation, whilst developing other famous Graham’s Ports such as Six Grapes, Late Bottled Vintage and the company’s exceptional Aged Tawny Ports.
