Aromas of red fruits blend with hints of clove and ginger in Cockburn's Vintage Port, while on the palate it combines focused red fruit flavours with a dry character with a long finish marked by Cockburn’s signature ‘grip’. The Cockburn 2016 displays archetypal schistous-soil structure, complexity and length.

Douro Superior as the birthplace of the finest Cockburn’s Ports, with Quinta dos Canais at its heart. Charles Symington, head winemaker, inspired by the great Cockburn’s Vintages of the past, made the outstanding 2011 debut Cockburn’s Vintage under Symington stewardship, an excellent 2015, and now the remarkable 2016, a thoroughbred Cockburn’s Vintage of which the family are rightly proud. 2016 brought an unusual viticultural year that required the experience and knowledge of the viticulture and winemaking teams. Abundant rain through the winter and spring replenished the water reserves that sustained the vines through a hot and dry summer.

The principal structure for the 2016, provided by Canais was complemented, as in all Cockburn’s Vintage Ports, by the finest production from the small Quinta do Vale Coelho vineyard, 10 km upriver. Vale Coelho adds the seasoning to the blend, with its Sousão grapes bringing acidity and an attractive spicy element. A further contribution came from a vineyard at Quinta do Cachão de Arnozelo, owned privately by a member of the Symington family, just around a bend in the river from Canais. Its Alicante Bouschet added an extra
dimension to the wine.