2000 Churchill Vintage Port

[Bjørn Tore Aastorp Ruud]

Cherry, chocolate, dry wood and anis.
Quite slim wine, firm dry and with a lot of tannins.
A very classic vintage, but you need to store it for a looooooooooong time.
Maybe these classic ports will not be of liking to the newer generations, be careful, know what you buy.
For me the wine will age well.

[Al B.]

Bjørn

I like the way that you post your tasting notes twice, so giving everyone the chance to very easily start a thread of conversation generated by your TN.

I've never tried a Churchill Port, I have seen a few of them available for sale but they have always been offered at roughly the same price as a mid-range Symington (think Warre, Dow) and I have always preferred to spend my money on something that I know to be good and reliable.

However, Churchill have been around for a while now and the owners have an unbeatable pedigree for being in the port trade so maybe I should change my ways.

I would be very interested to hear from anyone who has drunk a range of Churchill ports to learn what their views where on the quality of the wines compared to their peers.

Also, does anyone know who the Churchill importer is in the UK? I might have a go at persuading them to organise a tasting for us if there are enough people who would attend such a tasting in the UK.

Alex

[Ronald Wortel]

Alex, I found this list on their website (http://www.churchills-port.com). That may be of some help:



Agent:

EAUX DE VIE LTD
3 Harcourt Street
London W1H 4EY
Tel: 0033-(0)20 7724 5009
Fax: 0033-(0)20 7724 7690
Email: neil@eauxdevie.co.uk

Stockists:

Arthur Purchase & Son
31 North Street
Chichester
West Sussex P019 1LY
Tel: 004-(0) 1243 783 144
Fax: 004-(0)1243 533 397



Berry Bros. & Rudd Ltd.

3, St. James's Street, London SW1A 1EG

Orders Tel.: + 44 (0)870 900 4300 Fax: +44 (0)870 900 4301

e-mail: orders@bbr.com

Web: http://www.bbr.com

Caterite Food & Wine Services Ltd.
Embleton
Cumbria CA13 9YA
Tel: 0044-(0)17 687 76060
Fax: 0044-(0)17 687 76767

Christopher Piper Wines Ltd.
1 Silver Street
Ottery St. Mary
Devon EX11 1DB
Tel: 0044-(0)140 481 4139
Fax: 0044-(0)140 481 2100

Classic Wine N.I. Ltd.
49 Main Street
Groomsport
County Down BT19 6JR
Northern Ireland
Tel: 0044-(0)2891478982
Fax: 0044-(0)28 9147 8638

D. Byrne & Co.
Victoria Building
12 King Street
Clitheroe
Lancashire
Tel: 0044-(0)120043152
Fax:0044-(0)120043152

H & H Bancroft
1 China Wharf
Mill Street
London SE1 2BQ
Tel: 0044-(0)20 7232 5450
Fax: 0044-(0)20 7232 5451

Irvine Robertson Wines Ltd.
10-11 North Leith Sands
Scotland Edinburgh EH6 4ER
Tel: 0044-(0)131 5533521
Fax: 0044-(0)131 553 5465
Email: irviner@nildram.co.uk

Lea & Sandeman
170 Fulham Road
London SW10 9PR
Tel: 0044-(0)20 7244 0522
Fax: 0044-(0)20 7244 0533

Portland Wine Company
16 North Parade,
Sale
Manchester M33 3JS
Tel: 0044-(0)161 962 8752
Fax: 0044-(0)161 905 1291
Email: portwineco@aol.com

Ravensbourne Wine
602 Bell House
49 Greenwich High Road
London SE10 6JL
Tel/Fax: 020 8692 9655
Email: sales@ravensbournewine.co.uk

T.W. Wines Ltd.
51 King Street
Thetford
Norfolk
Tel: 0044-(0)1842 765 646
Fax: 0044-(0)1842 766 407
Email: clare@tw-wines.com

Tanner's Wines Ltd.
26 Wylie Cop
Shrewsbury SY1 1XD
Tel: 0044-(0) 174 323 4500
Fax: 0044-(0) 174 323 4501
Email: sales@tanners-wine.co.uk

[Ronald Wortel]

By the way, I've tried a couple of Churchill vintages and mostly found them to be very good, solid ports. I couldn't agree more with Bjorn's TN. :)

[Bjørn Tore Aastorp Ruud]

First I have to say that I am not a port expert like Roy, but for me Churchills Vintage ports are made more in the brittish style. By that I mean that they make sweet but not very sweet wines, and they always have a good structure and quite tough tannins when the wines reaches the market. They usualy need quite a few years of aging before opened.

Personally I think Churchills makes very good quality wines, exept I am a little disapointed with the 10 years old tawny.

Cheers.

[Marc J.]

I also agree that Churchill makes some very solid ports in the typical British style. Every bottle I've had has been very enjoyable. I just picked a bottle of their 20 y.o. and I'm interested to see how it stacks up.

[Bjørn Tore Aastorp Ruud]

I have one qpr favorite from Churchills. The Crusted port is very good quality and cheap. Its like a semidry red port. I use it for rich dishes of game like reindeer, grouse. I norway we make a traditional full cream based sauce, with stock, dried juniper berries, onion, mushrooms, caramelized goatcheese, and red currant.
Great stuff with port.
I like port with old traditional english or norwegian dishes of powerful game.

[Todd Pettinger]

Bjørn , you are making me hungry!!! :lick:

When you refer to the wine being "slim" does this refer to watery or thin-bodied? Or something different?

BTW, your TNs are very good. And I second Alex and thank you for placing them in both the TN forum and here, where I can ask questions such as these! :)

Todd

[Bjørn Tore Aastorp Ruud]

Todd.
Yes I think its a good idea to post in both forums, or we can not make comments.

By slim I mean light or medium bodied, depending on which type of wine I taste.
Maybe it is a term I should not use, I know what I mean, but maybe its confusing to others. I learn every day, thats the main reason I participate in these forums.

I will try not to use it. Light bodied or slim of course have nothing to do with concentration in the wine. Many thinks that a wine has to be full bodied to have a good concentration.

[Todd Pettinger]

Oh I wouldn't avoid the usage of it. I had pretty much figured out the meaning, given the context. I don't mean to discourage your use of ANY word at all!!! It is interesting to see other folks than those that are the "regulars" post and in the use of different and new terms, it brings a great variety.

Keep up the excellent reviews!

Todd

[Bjørn Tore Aastorp Ruud]

Thanks, I will try my best.

[nicos neocleous]

Bjorn,
Thanks for the tasting note. I have a case in storage and I will wait patiently!

[Bjørn Tore Aastorp Ruud]

I hope I will be able to try this wine in 20 years again.

[Andy Velebil]

I hope I will be able to try this wine in 20 years again.

I think you will be able to....all of us will make sure of that

[Bjørn Tore Aastorp Ruud]

Andy V.
You know I am working for the state wine monopoly in Norway, so I can taste a lot of wines, but I live in an appartment with no storage possibilities. I hope to get a winefridge for storadge soon, but it will cost me.