Churchill's Port

Churchill's Port is a relative newcomer to the Port trade, being the first British Port house founded for 50 years when set up in 1981. It makes a full range of Ports, including ruby, white, aged tawny, LBV, Single Quinta (da Gricha) and Vintage offerings, which 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 maiden 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 19-hectare (47-acre) vineyard estate in the Cima Gorgo sub-region of the Douro Valley. All of Churchill's Ports are now produced in the winery here in traditional lagares (grape-trading tanks), which were built in 1852. Another vineyard, the warm, sunny Quinta do Rio in the Rio Torto, was purchased at the same time and is used to produce gutsier wines for blending.

Churchill's has also made dry table wines since 2004. This includes 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.