Tell us about the moment you first became interested in wine
I grew up passing Port left at family meals and trying to guess the vintage and producer. But the real spark came with Bar Douro: building the list, travelling Portugal, and meeting the growers who make its wines so exciting.
Describe your wine list at Bar Douro
It’s a journey through Portugal. We focus on Portugal’s diverse regions, native grapes, and the new wave of brilliant, boundary-pushing growers. Every region is represented, from classic to cutting-edge, with plenty of heritage techniques alongside modern reinvention.
Name your top three restaurant wine lists
Andrew Edmonds, Poons, and Planque (all in London).
Who do you most respect in the wine world?
Cheesy, but I would have to say my father, Johnny Graham. He founded Churchill’s in 1981 at a time when it was almost impossible to form a Port company due to the enormous stocks you had to hold in reserve. It was the first port company to be founded in over 50 years.
What’s the most interesting wine you’ve come across recently?
Zafirah, a light red Vinho Verde from Constantino Ramos in the high-altitude Mouro Valley (Monção e Melgaço). Old pergola vines, field-blend magic: Branselho, Vinhão, Bursassal, Espadeiro. Bright, savoury, and totally alive.
What are the three most overused tasting notes?
Oaky, buttery, and natural.
What’s the best value wine on your list at the moment?
Quinta das Marias Encruzado. Pure, unoaked Dão Encruzado, fresh, saline, mineral, with white-blossom lift and orchard fruit. Serious quality for the price.
What is your ultimate food and drink match?
Chilled aged dry white Port with roasted almonds. Also, roast suckling pig with Quinta das Bágeiras Espumante is unbeatable.
Old World or New World?
Old World. There is a richness in the history of a terroir, where growers have accumulated centuries of knowledge, where old vines deliver low-yielding but intense flavours, and where ancestral techniques are having a renaissance, delivering authentic complex wines—for example, the nectar-like whites made in traditional talha (amphora-style terracotta pots) in the Alentejo.
What is your pet hate when it comes to wine service in other restaurants?
Taking the bottle away and then never topping you up.
Who is your favourite producer right now?
Quinta das Bágeiras, Bairrada. Mário Sérgio’s whole philosophy is “quality without identity means nothing.” He’s a champion of traditional grapes and makes some of Portugal’s finest still and sparkling wines. The 1991 Espumante Velho Reserva is outrageously good.
In terms of looking after the wine programme at Bar Douro, what question do you most get asked by customers?
A lot of guests still pin Portuguese wine to a few familiar styles: Alentejo’s big, ripe reds, spritzy Vinho Verde, and ruby Port at Christmas. We’re here to shift that view and highlight how deep and diverse Portugal really is, from the mineral, volcanic whites of the Azores to the austere mountain wines of Trás-os-Montes and textured skin-contact whites from the Algarve.
Which wine-producing region or country is underrated at the moment?
The Península de Setúbal has been dominated by big brands making bulk, accessibly priced, fruity wines using national and international grapes. However, the region is also home to Moscatel de Setúbal, an incredible and underrated fortified wine. Horacio Simões is a third-generation family-owned producer producing a stunning range of fortified Moscatel de Setúbal, including vintage, 10-year-old, non-vintage, and single-cask examples made from Muscat of Alexandria, as well as Moscatel Roxo from a rare pink-tinted Muscat strain native to the region.
It’s your last meal and you can have a bottle of any wine in the world. What is it and why?
1963 Cockburn’s Vintage Port. Undervalued category, one of the great wines of the Old World.