A special edition single vintage Tawny Port from Titanic producers, Graham’s.

This bottling is produced using grapes from the 2003 harvest. 2003 is known for being one of the hottest years in recent European history, but growers in the Douro valley are used to such hot summers, and were able to avoid the problems of over-ripeness that French vintners (in particular) suffered. Portuguese growers were also helped by a wet winter, and although yields were low (the norm for Douro), the grapes had a superb quality.

Colheita simply means “harvest” in Portuguese, and in the Port wine business refers to a single vintage Tawny, which must be aged for a minimum of seven years. For this bottling, father and son winemaking duo, Peter and Charles Symington, selected the finest wines of the harvest, some of which were set aside for a Vintage Port, and some for even longer aging in seasoned oak, destined to become Colheita.

This is a spectacular Port wine which serves up flavours of thick caramel, cinnamon, coffee, cream, marmalade, dark chocolate, red grapes, dried fruits and brown sugar.

The wine is bottled at 20% ABV and with a Baumé level of 3.8. The wine has an acidity of 4.34 grams of tartaric acid per litre.

This wine is best served slightly chilled, and is an excellent pairing to dark chocolate, vanilla ice cream or crème caramel. After opening, the wine will keep for a month.

First Flight was so named as the harvest came a hundred years after the Wright Brothers first motor powered flight, in 1903.

• Distillery / brand
  Graham's
• Country
  Portugal
• Bottler
  Distillery Bottling
• Distillation date
  2003
• SKU
  039636