Graham’s 30 Year Old Tawny Port

Graham's is one of the few Port houses to run its own cooperage, with a team that maintains every cask in-house, and that control matters for a wine like this 30 Year Old Tawny. It is made from Touriga Nacional and Touriga Franca grown on the schist terraces of the Douro Valley, where poor stony soils and intense summer heat drive high ripeness. The grapes are fermented and fortified with grape spirit to halt the yeast, preserving sweetness and raising the strength. The wine then spends three decades in seasoned oak casks. Over that long ageing, controlled exposure to oxygen through the wood slowly oxidises and concentrates the wine, fading its colour to amber and building the layered nutty, dried-fruit and caramel character that defines old Tawny. The source describes an amber colour with the aromas of long ageing, nuts and ripe fruit, and a concentrated, sweet palate with a long persistent finish. Expect walnut, hazelnut, dried fig, toffee and orange marmalade over a warming base. Serve lightly chilled at around 14C in a small glass. It is best with nutty desserts, dried fruit and hard cheese.