Tue 14 and Thu 16 April 2020: Virtual Tasting with Johnny Graham

[Alex Bridgeman]

On Tuesday 14th and Thursday 16th April Johnny Graham and Ricardo Pinto Nunes are hosting an e-tasting of a selection of their wines and Ports, live streamed on Instagram, including a live Q&A.

What made this stand out for me - and made me decide to join - is that you can buy a tasting kit of 20cl bottles of each of the wines being tasted and sip alongside the winemakers.

More details on their website.

If anyone else is going to join, say so here and perhaps we can Zoom together while tasting along with Johnny and Ricardo.

Port is being tasted with Johnny on Tuesday the 14th and the wines with Ricardo on Thursday 16th.

[PhilW]

I think this is an excellent move by Churchill's in the current situation. However, while their choice for the wine tasting is their best wines (costing 60, 45 and 35 euros per bottle), their choice for the port tasting is their relatively basic port set of ruby reserve, 10yr tawny and dry white. In terms of making an equivalently good tasting to showcase their port wines I would like to have seen at least their LBV and/or crusted and 20yr tawny, all of which I believe are already available in half-bottles, so a set of 3 halves (or 20cls) would work very nicely and equivalently for a quality Churchill's port tasting. As it is currently it is more an "introduction to port" rather than a showcase of their best; this has its place as well depending on their target audience, and I understand that they have this already bottled, packaged and available which makes it a straightforward choice (and an excellent gift for people new to port to buy when visiting). I hope the tasting is successful, and perhaps leads to a further tasting showcasing their better ports.

[Glenn E.]

I think this is a great concept, but agree with Phil that it would have been nice to have had the Port package provide a higher-end experience. I can't justify 166 Euros in my house for a basic dry white, a ruby reserve, and 10YO tawny when the (presumably much higher quality) wines won't be enjoyed for their quality.

I'm very much looking forward to the TPF virtual tasting next Tuesday and will have to be satisfied with that instead of joining Johnny Graham on the 14th. I hope to have a working webcam by then, too.

[Alex Bridgeman]

Nothing to stop you joining Johnny on the 14th without the Ports!

It’s also worth looking at local retail. If all you want is the Port tasting pack you might be able to find it available locally. There are a few online retailers in the UK who can supply these and I’d guess the same was true in the US.

I’m hoping that if this is a success we might see more of these types of tastings but based on half bottles. That should allow us to move up the quality ladder without requiring specific small bottling runs.

[Alex Bridgeman]

If anyone is interested in taking part in the Port tasting on Tuesday next week, but doesn’t want to buy the Port from Portugal, I have been given the following list of UK stockists of the three bottle Port sample pack.

The Oxford Wine Co. Ltd
Harvey Nichols & Co Plc
Amazon
vin Neuf Ltd
Fortnum & Mason PLC
Loki Wines Ltd
Shed, Clapham South
The Dorset Wine Company Ltd
Summit Group Ltd - A C Gallie
J & I Gribbin

Harvey Nicks are selling the packs at £28 for the three 20cl bottles, with free UK delivery.

[benread]

Either supplies have quickly been pushed out or your research is more thorough than mine last week! I’m expecting my tasting pack to arrive this morning, hopefully before 11am...


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[PhilW]

Having grumbled slightly above regarding Churchill selecting their best wine, but the low end ports for their initial online tasting, I am delighted to now see that they are following up with a vintage port tasting featuring some of their top ports. Taking place on Tue 19th May (in English) and Thu 21st May (in Portuguese), the wines are to be Ch94(half), ChG05, Ch14(half), Ch14lbv(half) and ChG18 cask sample. I'm looking forward to it.
Full details here.