Winemaker Notes
Cockburn's 2011 Vintage Port pairs wonderfully with chocolate desserts, such as chocolate mousse, creamy blue cheeses like Stilton or Roquefort.
Professional Ratings
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James Suckling
Great nose here with flowers, leaves and a wet earth character. Full body, lightly sweet with a massive finish. This is muscular, toned and intense. Superb: the greatest ever vintage Port from here! This is tasting much better than from barrel. 3,000 cases produced of this mechanically trodden wine. Try after 2024.
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Wine Spectator
Amazingly fresh and juicy, with concentrated raspberry and dark cherry flavors that are well-sculpted and pure. Very minerally midpalate, this offers a fruity finish that features luscious chocolate notes. A sleek and vibrant style. Best from 2030 through 2060.
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Robert Parker's Wine Advocate
The Cockburn's Vintage Port is sourced from their two main vineyards, Quinta dos Canais and Quinta do Vale Coelho, plus a small contribution from Quinta do Cachao de Arnozelo. Around 55% of the blend is sourced from Touriga Nacional vines in Quinta dos Canais, the remainder of the blend 30% Touriga Franca, 5% Sousao and 10% a mixture of old vines. The fruit was picked between September 8 and October 5 at Canais and between September 12 and 30 at Vale Coelho. It has a lifted bouquet with raisin, fresh dates and some lovely tobacco and sandalwood aromas that lend the aromatic profile complexity, although it feels rather compact at the moment. The palate is very well-balanced with a spicy, black pepper-tinged opening and very good structure. There is wonderful focus here, with a refined, clove-tinged finish and a long, spicy aftertaste so you do not forget it in a hurry. The 2011 Cockburn harks back to those classics of yesteryear. Cockburn's is back.
Range: 94-96 -
Wine & Spirits
The bright ping of exotic fruit finds a near perfect integration with the tannins, as if to bring the schist soil directly into the fruit flavor. Focused and substantive, this is destined to be a classic.
Port is a sweet, fortified wine with numerous styles: Ruby, Tawny, Vintage, Late Bottled Vintage (LBV), White, Colheita, and a few unusual others. It is blended from from the most important red grapes of the Douro Valley, based primarily on Touriga Nacional with over 80 other varieties approved for use. Most Ports are best served slightly chilled at around 55-65°F. To learn more, see our full Port Wine Guide
The home of Port—perhaps the most internationally acclaimed beverage—the Douro region of Portugal is one of the world’s oldest delimited wine regions, established in 1756. The vineyards of the Douro, set on the slopes surrounding the Douro River (known as the Duero in Spain), are incredibly steep, necessitating the use of terracing and thus, manual vineyard management as well as harvesting. The Douro's best sites, rare outcroppings of Cambrian schist, are reserved for vineyards that yield high quality Port.
While more than 100 indigenous varieties are approved for wine production in the Douro, there are five primary grapes that make up most Port and the region's excellent, though less known, red table wines. Touriga Nacional is the finest of these, prized for its deep color, tannins and floral aromatics. Tinta Roriz (Spain's Tempranillo) adds bright acidity and red fruit flavors. Touriga Franca shows great persistence of fruit and Tinta Barroca helps round out the blend with its supple texture. Tinta Cão, a fine but low-yielding variety, is now rarely planted but still highly valued for its ability to produce excellent, complex wines.
White wines, generally crisp, mineral-driven blends of Arinto, Viosinho, Gouveio, Malvasia Fina and an assortment of other rare but local varieties, are produced in small quantities but worth noting.
With hot summers and cool, wet winters, the Duoro has a maritime climate.