2016 Cockburn's, Port, Portugal

2016 Cockburn's, Port, Portugal

Product: 20168106058
Prices start from £280.00 per case Buying options
2016 Cockburn's, Port, Portugal

Buying options

Available by the case In Bond. Pricing excludes duty and VAT, which must be paid separately before delivery. Storage charges apply.
Case format
Availability
Price per case
6 x 75cl bottle
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Description

The 2016 Vintage Ports have finally hit the market. Cockburn is one of the great historic properties in the Douro Valley, and it is now part of the Symington portfolio (along with Graham’s, Dow’s, Warre’s, and more). The 2016 Cockburn is 62% Touriga Nacional, 21% Touriga Franca, 9% Sousão and 8% Alicante Bouschet, predominately hillside grapes from the family’s Quinta dos Canais vineyard, which has been the backbone of Cockburn Vintage Port for over 100 years.

The nose on the 2016 shows fragrant red and black fruit, wild flowers, clove, ginger and spice. The palate offers extracted red fruits with layers of spice and a lovely acidity throughout. It is very dry and complex with incredible length; hide this away somewhere dark and look at it again in at least ten years.

Mike Jordan, Account Manager, Berry Bros. & Rudd

wine at a glance

Delivery and quality guarantee

Critics reviews

Jancis Robinson MW18/20
Dark crimson with a mere hint of ruby at the rim. Lifted and silky. This immediately makes a claim to be a top-drawer wine on the nose. Very round with a savoury, herbal, dry finish but absolutely gorgeously sweet and fresh on the palate. Just a little heat on the end but this is a very convincing sign that Cockburn is back on form, even if it may not be one of the longest living.
Drink 2035-2065
Jancis Robinson, JancisRobinson.com Read more
James Suckling99/100
This shows fantastic graphite and dark-berry character with black-stone undertones and hints of dried roses. Full-bodied and very tight and precise. Good kick in the end. Love the polished tannins, which are totally folded into the wine. Reminds me of the 1947 Cockburn. Try in 2024.
James Suckling, JamesSuckling.com Read more

About this WINE

Cockburn

Cockburn

Cockburn was founded nearly 200 years ago by Scotsman, Robert Cockburn, who returned to Portugal after first visiting the country as a soldier fighting under Wellington in the Napoleonic Wars. Originally it was based in the Douro valley, the traditional centre of Port production. A year later, Cockburn moved east to the Upper Douro Valley.

Cockburn has a reputation as innovators, which, in such a traditional and conservative industry is sometimes considered disregard for the “rules”.

It has, however, brought them great success, namely the revival of the Touriga Nacional vine. A grape recognised for its exceptional quality. Touriga Nacional now accounts for 35% of Cockburns yield.

Cockburns has led the way in modernising standards of wine and environmental management and in 1994 it became the first wine company to be awarded the ISO 9002 for quality management, wine making and production operations.

The owners of Cockburns, Beam Global Spirits, has recently decided to divest the Cockburn’s Port Brand to the Symington Family Estates, the leading producer of premium quality ports.

Following the transaction, the Symington family intends to apply their skill and expertise in the production of Port, which dates back for generations, towards further development and growth of Cockburn’s around the world.
 

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Vintage Port

Vintage Port

Vintage Port accounts for only a small percentage of the total Port production - which includes Tawny, Ruby, Late Bottled Vintage, Single Quinta Vintage styles, among others - but is the finest, longest-lived and most expensive style that is produced. The best are as good as any wine in existence.

With the exception of legendary vineyards like Quinta do Noval Nacional and Quinta do Vesuvio, Vintage Port is made from a blend of wines from a producer's finest plots. It is aged for around 18 months in wooden casks before bottling; from then on the watch-word is patience. At least 15 years ageing – and for the top wines it will be significantly longer – is required before the tannins, spirit and fruit are fully integrated. Indeed, the finest examples can last well over 50 years. 

Vintage Port is only made in exceptional years (normally around three times per decade) with considerable stylistic variation between different years and shippers. However, they all share a sweet, warming, spicy richness, power and complexity. In other good but not great vintages, many shippers produce a  Single Quinta Vintage Port from their finest vineyard. These are made in the same way and have the same style as Vintage Port but tend to mature faster and are less profound. All Vintage Port throws a sediment as it matures, and thus requires decanting.

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Port Blend

Port Blend

There are around 40 different grape varieties permitted in the production of Port - however the vast majority of Ports are produced from a blend of 5 grapes - Touriga Nacional, Touriga Francesca, Tinta Barroca, Tinta Roriz, and Tinto Cão.

Touriga Nacional produces small, dark-skinned grapes that produce opaque black wines of great extract and high tannins - it gives grip, body, and structure to the blend.

Touriga Franca has a thinner skin and consequently produces wines lighter in colour and tannins than Touriga Nacional. It contributes fruit, aroma, suppleness and roundness.

Tinta Roriz is the Portuguese name for Tempranillo and its high sugar content and low acidity contribute colour and fruit.

Tinta Barroca which is normally grown at highish altitudes and on north-facing slopes, is prized for producing wines of delicacy, finesse and with smooth, velvety fruit. It brings elegance and sweet, ripe fruit to the final blend.

Finally Tinto Cão produces fine and complex wines, though it is probably the least important of the 5 grapes as its painfully small yields have reduced plantings to almost insignificant levels.

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When is a wine ready to drink?

We provide drinking windows for all our wines. Alongside the drinking windows there is a bottle icon and a maturity stage. Bear in mind that the best time to drink a wine does also depend on your taste.

Not ready

These wines are very young. Whilst they're likely to have lots of intense flavours, their acidity or tannins may make them feel austere. Although it isn't "wrong" to drink these wines now, you are likely to miss out on a lot of complexity by not waiting for them to mature.

Ready - youthful

These wines are likely to have plenty of fruit flavours still and, for red wines, the tannins may well be quite noticeable. For those who prefer younger, fruitier wines, or if serving alongside a robust meal, these will be very enjoyable. If you choose to hold onto these wines, the fruit flavours will evolve into more savoury complexity.

Ready - at best

These wines are likely to have a beautiful balance of fruit, spice and savoury flavours. The acidity and tannins will have softened somewhat, and the wines will show plenty of complexity. For many, this is seen as the ideal time to drink and enjoy these wines. If you choose to hold onto these wines, they will become more savoury but not necessarily more complex.

Ready - mature

These wines are likely to have plenty of complexity, but the fruit flavours will have been almost completely replaced by savoury and spice notes. These wines may have a beautiful texture at this stage of maturity. There is lots to enjoy when drinking wines at this stage. Most of these wines will hold in this window for a few years, though at the very end of this drinking window, wines start to lose complexity and decline.