Johnny Graham from Churchill's visits BWC to talk on the most festive of tipples, Port

Amongst our expert panellists will be Johnny Graham owner and wine maker of port producers Churchill's. He will present a range of his wines and will be pleased to answer your questions about port. He founded the company in 1981, the first new port company in 70 years. He was part of the Grahams Port family that was sold to the Symington Group, so he was unable to use his own name. His wife's maiden name is Churchill, hence the name of the company.

We are always pleased to welcome our suppliers to these tastings and their expertise, we hope, adds to the allure of the evening. Certainly John and I find talking to these people very enlightening. You also benefit from their knowledge, as we squirrel it away to be dug up and passed on when you visit the shop.

By the time you read this, our website should be fully operational.

It will give you our complete stock list plus news, tips and information about the shop and what is going on here.

We are seldom able to publish a comprehensive list of all the wines we stock. This is because many are in such small quantities that they are sold out before the list is published. Our website will give you our current position.

In our previous newsletters we mentioned that we had been looking for a new range of wines from Sancerre region of the Loire Valley. These wines have now been shipped and will be availed to taste on 19th November.

Other wines that we are now stocking which are new to us is ForestVille Merlot (£8.30) from California, This is deep purple in colour with a rich spicy nose of black fruits. The taste is very soft rounded and rich. It will accompany most meats and goods English cheeses. From Australia we have found an extraordinary Cabernet Sauvignon called Angus the Bull. This wine is not for the faint heated. It is 14% Alcohol with rich concentrated grape flavours and a warm complex finish; wonderful for rich stews and game, as well as strong cheeses. The price of this exciting wine is £13.75. One other wine worth mentioning is a Pinot Noir from Chile. The wine is made by Agustinos in Bio Bio Valley in the most northern wine region of Chile. This is a well-made wine with soft fruit flavours and a complex and lovely finish.

We continue to evolve our wine range but never overlook the wines that have been very popular, such as Grand Vernaux our House wine. This will be ideal for Christmas parties (£44.25) per case.

We held a very successful tasting in January of Charles Thomas, Burgundies conducted by Alistair Stephenson their Export Manager. He is to return on Saturday 18th December to show some more of these excellent wines. Please make a note in your diary to join us.

When you visit our website you will find that we have included a number of offers and 'Wines of the month'. These are just the start of what we hope will be a continuous programme of interesting and interestingly priced wines. Please give us your comments, either by email or by the old fashioned method of telephone. We also receive letters.

On the evening of the tasting we will be showing a range of Armagnacs and Cognacs which will be ideal for the Christmas season either for your own consumption or else for gifts. On the subject of Christmas may I remind you that we stock a very good range of Cigars. We keep them in our own humidor as moist as possible to maintain the flavour. Nothing is worse than a dry acrid cigar. If the cigar is not smoked immediately, by keeping it quite damp, it will retain moisture for longer and will still taste and smoke with that purity that only a good cigar, well stored can invoke. The annual Christmas cigar should be cherished, enjoyed and remembered for all the right reasons.

Happy Christmas

Neil Bingham