Quinta dos Malvedos tasting 27/1/ 2011

Dominic didn’t come alone – he was accompanied by the newly appointed market manger of the Symington Group, Gustavo Devesas whom we know from the club’s latest trip to Portugal, Gustavo then hosting our tour of Graham’s facilites in Vila Nova de Gaia. As of January the 3rd, 2011, Gustavo has been made responsible for Symington’s sales in large parts of Europe, including all of Scandinavia.

After a brief welcome by our president, Dominic told us a bit about port wine and of Malvedos in particular, including a presentation of the 14 vintages of Malvedos which comprised the evenings extensive program. Only rarely do we get to taste 17 vintages of a single house, it’s even more rare all 17 * 2 bottles come in perfect condition, as was indeed the case here. 

As a novelty Dominic wanted to split the tasting in two sets – in the first set we savoured the wines from 1992 to 2009, the second set was reversed, going from 1987 back to 1958. This produced quite a transition from 2009 to 1987 and Dominic told us wisely to “clear our heads” before the switch. This some of us could do, but personally I like going straight from old to young or vice versa. Fun to try, though. On another note I had to revise my opinion of Malvedos being often rather sweet.

The undisputed winner of the tasting was the oldest Malvedos from 1958, which came out on top of our ordinary voting. It carried nearly twice as many votes as number two, which was 1965. 

The table below has the entire result plus votes given

Upon this unique tasting of Quinta dos Malvedos forming the backbone of Graham's Vintage port, the bell was rung for our Winemaker’s Dinner and four hours of fine eating and drinking accompanied all the way by  Dominic and Gustavo. During this part of the arrangement the responsibility was entirely upon the chef, Steffen Conrad and his crew, who had prepared an absolutely delightful and tasty multi-course dinner. This link takes you to photos from the event.

The wines keeping us company were:

Deutz Brut Champagne (magnum)

*

Fess Parker Chardonnay 2009

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Joseph Drouhin - Savigny-les-Beaune 2007

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Quinta do Vesuvio Doc Douro 2008

Pombal do Vesuvio Doc Douro 2008

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Graham's 1997 Vintage Port

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Graham's 20 Years Old Tawny

Thanks to everybody for a splendid evening...