1990 Churchill’s LBV Port

While ‘regular’ vintage port, the pinnacle of any house’s production, is typically bottled after a maximum of 30 months in wood or steel (thus retaining a fresher, less oxidative fruit character, but often requiring decades of bottle age to tame the wine’s fierce structure), a parallel style of Late-Bottled Vintage developed.

Hailing from vintage-quality grapes, these wines spend 4+ years in wood, retaining a good deal of vintage port’s character while being effectively ready to drink on release.

Churchill’s LBV is a field blend of many varieties such as Touriga Nacional, Tinta Roriz, Tinto Cão, Tinta Barroca, Touriga Franca and Tinta Francisca. It’s fermented in granite lagares until reaching 98 g/L of residual sugar, at which point it’s fortified with neutral grape spirit to 19.5% alcohol.

It spends four years aging in wood. Bottled unfiltered— while it will not throw as much sediment as a vintage port, decanting is recommended.