David Allen MW, Wine-Searcher's Wine Director, is looking at a couple of Douro Table wines. It is an area where he feels ageworthy, quality wines can be purchased at quite good prices. Today he relates the fascinating story of Churchill's Port house and tastes a relatively mature example of their wines , the 2013 vintage of Churchill's Estates Douro Tinto
Churchill's is a boutique Anglo-Portuguese Port house. A relative newcomer to the Port trade, it was the first British Port house founded for 50 years when set up in 1981. It is now the last British house with independent status.
A full range of Ports is made, including ruby, white, aged tawny, LBV, Single Quinta (da Gricha) and Vintage offerings. The vintage releases combine rich fruit with tannic structure, and tend to be drier than similar wines from other houses.
The estate was founded by Johnny and Caroline Graham of the Graham family who had owned Graham's Port until it was sold to the Symington family in 1970. The new house was given Caroline Graham's family name, Churchill, and quickly established a reputation for the high quality of its wines. Johnny Graham had previously made wine at Cockburn's and Taylor's.
After many years of working mainly with the grower Borges de Sousa, the company bought Quinta da Gricha in 1999, a 50-hectare (124-acre) estate in the Cima Gorgo sub-region of the Douro Valley. The property is named for the gricha (spring) which feeds the vines, which sit between 150 and 400 meters altitude (490 to 1,300ft). Another vineyard, the warm, sunny Quinta do Rio in the Rio Torto, was purchased at the same time. It is used to produce gutsier wines for blending.
All of Churchill's Ports are now produced in the winery at Quinta da Gricha. Grapes are hand picked and sorted twice before foot crushing in traditional lagares (grape-trading tanks), which were built in 1852. Native yeasts are used for fermentation, which lasts 12 to 24 hours longer than the norm for a drier style. Wine tastings and vietard tours are possible.
Churchill's also has a traditonal lodge in a narrow side street of Vila Nova da Gaia, across the Douro from Oporto. Here barrels of Port mature in cooler conditions. There is also a visitor center here.
Since 2004 Churchill's have also made dry table wines . These include red and white blends from the Douro, as well as a varietal Touriga Nacional, a Grande Reserva and the single-vineyard Quinta Da Gricha red. The red wines are all aged for 12 months, the top wines in 100 percent new oak.
To find out more about this wine, its price and availability follow this link to the Wine-Searcher website: www.wine-searcher.com/find/ch...
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