Cockburn's

In 1815, the Scotsman Robert Cockburn and his brother John, successful wine merchants in Leith near Edinburgh, set up a branch of their firm in Porto: R & J Cockburn’s. Over the years they had many different business partners and consequently like all of the early Port companies the name frequently changed until it became known as Cockburn’s & Co: the name that survives today. Although the Cockburn family continued to run the company until well into the twentieth century, other families joined the extended family of Cockburn’s & Co during this time resulting in some of the finest winemakers and Port tasters that the trade has ever known all being part of the same company. Consequently the Cockburn’s & Co family built themselves a remarkable reputation for fine Vintage Port. The records at the London auction houses show that in the early twentieth century, Cockburn’s Vintage Ports commanded the highest prices of any Port house. Since 2006 the Symington family have owned Cockburn's and are responsible for all its winemaking. So with Cockburn’s back under the ownership of one family, in fact one of the most important families in Port and the largest owners of vineyards in the Douro region, Cockburn’s could not be in better hands.

"Great vitality and purity of fruit, focused and precise. Exudes a freshness, which springs out of the glass. Aromas of fleshy, black plums and eucalyptus fragrance. Flavours of red cherries on the palate. Well-toned and muscul, full-flavoured with typical Cockburn's 'grip'" (Tasting notes from cask samples, Symington tasting room March 2017.

Try this wine with top end cheese, especially cheddar and blue veined, treacle tart and a chocolate pot with cherry syrup.

The grapes are picked and then trodden in huge 'lagares' (treading tanks) that same night. Later the wines are allowed to rest in wooden vats for no more than 18 months. We bottle them as they are: unfiltered, totally natural. And once they are in their time capsules, they slowly mature for many years. It is not unusual for one of our Vintage Ports to be in fantastic condition after 50 or more years in the bottle. (Ref Cockburn's)