1992 Churchill LBV (unfiltered)

[JacobH]

A recent acquisition in half bottles from Nickolls and Perks which, somewhat unusually for an LBV, was bottled in 1998 after 6 years in wood. I decanted off only a small amount of thickish sediment.

1+ The colour suggests maturity; a lightish red slightly fading towards the edge of the glass.

On the nose there’s a little fire and perhaps a bit of a slightly-odd Meringue-like touch (though I think this might be something that will blow-off). There’s also little crystallized fruit, perhaps with a touch of acid (such as a citrus of pineapple).In the mouth, I am slightly hindered by using rather too much garlic in my dinner, but I can say that it drinks very easily, with a smooth sensation leading to a nice caramel/nutty finish.

I think, at the moment, this is really good stuff but that’s mostly because this cost me the grant total of £3.50 a bottle. I dare say it won’t last much longer (I had an ’86 or ’87 LBV last year which was far gone) but it’s a shame they had so few bottles available as I would have happily picked up a few cases!

[Alex Bridgeman]

That is a very good price for the LBV of a producer who has a good reputation for their unfiltered wines. Nice find!

[JacobH]

That is a very good price for the LBV of a producer who has a good reputation for their unfiltered wines. Nice find!

They’ve got a few Ports on offer at the moment at pretty reasonable prices. I’ll see if I can make a post in the relevant place!

[JacobH]

That is a very good price for the LBV of a producer who has a good reputation for their unfiltered wines. Nice find!

They’ve got a few Ports on offer at the moment at pretty reasonable prices. I’ll see if I can make a post in the relevant place!

After a few goes, I failed to easily convert their complex HTML table into a format for display; I’ll have to go for a straight-forward link.

[JacobH]

A second go at this at TCP with UncleTom and AHB. This is much as I remember the first bottle: still excellent value as a mature LBV but not likely to last long.

[Alex Bridgeman]

Unfiltered LBV from a half bottle. Mature looking colour, surprisingly faded on the rim for the age. A floral and attractive nose that promises plenty of fruit. Dry and structured in the mouth with tannins showing gently through the damsons and plum fruit. Some good mid-palate development but the wine is astonishingly forward for its age. The burn on swallowing lingers for longer than is desirable and leaves only a short aftertaste. Still very respectable value at £3.50 for a half bottle! 82/100. Drunk 17 March 2009.