**Age:** NAS, but apparently a mix of two and three-year-old wine
**Produced:** 2016 and 2017 (estimated)
Cockburn’s Tawny Port is a wine that I bought nearly a year ago and was saving for a special occasion, but since I had a half-decent day today after a string of bad luck I’ve been experiencing lately, I decided that life was too short to be “tatering” a $14 bottle of ready-to-drink, easily replaceable wine and opened it up.
**Nose:** Out of the bottle, there is a very pleasant bouquet of raisin, figs, blackberry, dark cherry, slight neoprene, honey, a sort of breadiness reminiscent of pound cake, and a touch of salinity similar to that found in cream sherry. Poured into the glass, it’s more of the same, but lighter, and with more emphasis on the typical red wine tannins and a new slight hint of lemon.
**Taste:** Wow, it’s a whole lot sweeter and “brighter” on the palate than I expected based on the color, description and nose, with the tannins of red wine being incredibly faint, and the flavors quite hard to pick apart. Maraschino cherries and raisins are the main theme here with additional notes of cranberry, honey and red apple, and a faint hint of vanilla, but it seems very fruit-forward with none of the “nuttiness” mentioned on the bottle nor the caramel and chocolate flavors that a couple of other reviewers have mentioned being discernible. I believe I can also taste the fortifying spirit on the palate, but I think it actually contributes to the flavor profile here rather than being an intrusive flaw like raw ethanol notes in barrel-aged spirits are.
**Finish:** Some very slight earthy tannins, a whisper of spice, and then a lingering note of more raisins accompanied by apple peel.
**Conclusion:** This is a good, easy-to-drink, uncomplicated but pleasant dessert wine that is worth the price, even if the flavor profile took me by surprise. I’ve only had one other port before and that was Taylor-Fladgate Ruby Port; compared to that, Cockburn’s Tawny was sweeter with far less tannic character, and had flavors more reminiscent of dried and candied fruits than fresh ones. I was expecting the latter to be true but not the former, yet I still appreciate it for what it is. I am actually glad that I decided to open it now instead of waiting until I had a cute girl to share it with, because it isn’t particularly elegant or romantic, and this isn’t the wine you’d use to convert somebody who insists that they don’t like sweet wines. On the other hand, I feel like Cockburn’s statement on their website that port is “for more than just Christmas” has more substance to it than a predictable attempt by their marketing team to shift more of the wine, because the brightness and clarity of this wine’s palate unburdened by the heavy notes of added defrutum in cheap sherry make me want to drink it chilled on a sunny summer’s day moreso than any California rose does. I am interested to try a tawny port that is more typical of the style and would be open to any recommendations, including ones from Australia.
nziring
Whoa, that is a huge serving of port.
Far-Choice-242
Love the pour and the review! I have to be in a special mood for port, but it is a great time when I am.
3 Comments
**Name:** Cockburn’s Tawny Port
**Price:** $12.99 when bought, now $13.99
**Producer:** Symington
**Alcohol content:** 19%
**Bottled:** November 3rd, 2019
**Age:** NAS, but apparently a mix of two and three-year-old wine
**Produced:** 2016 and 2017 (estimated)
Cockburn’s Tawny Port is a wine that I bought nearly a year ago and was saving for a special occasion, but since I had a half-decent day today after a string of bad luck I’ve been experiencing lately, I decided that life was too short to be “tatering” a $14 bottle of ready-to-drink, easily replaceable wine and opened it up.
**Nose:** Out of the bottle, there is a very pleasant bouquet of raisin, figs, blackberry, dark cherry, slight neoprene, honey, a sort of breadiness reminiscent of pound cake, and a touch of salinity similar to that found in cream sherry. Poured into the glass, it’s more of the same, but lighter, and with more emphasis on the typical red wine tannins and a new slight hint of lemon.
**Taste:** Wow, it’s a whole lot sweeter and “brighter” on the palate than I expected based on the color, description and nose, with the tannins of red wine being incredibly faint, and the flavors quite hard to pick apart. Maraschino cherries and raisins are the main theme here with additional notes of cranberry, honey and red apple, and a faint hint of vanilla, but it seems very fruit-forward with none of the “nuttiness” mentioned on the bottle nor the caramel and chocolate flavors that a couple of other reviewers have mentioned being discernible. I believe I can also taste the fortifying spirit on the palate, but I think it actually contributes to the flavor profile here rather than being an intrusive flaw like raw ethanol notes in barrel-aged spirits are.
**Finish:** Some very slight earthy tannins, a whisper of spice, and then a lingering note of more raisins accompanied by apple peel.
**Conclusion:** This is a good, easy-to-drink, uncomplicated but pleasant dessert wine that is worth the price, even if the flavor profile took me by surprise. I’ve only had one other port before and that was Taylor-Fladgate Ruby Port; compared to that, Cockburn’s Tawny was sweeter with far less tannic character, and had flavors more reminiscent of dried and candied fruits than fresh ones. I was expecting the latter to be true but not the former, yet I still appreciate it for what it is. I am actually glad that I decided to open it now instead of waiting until I had a cute girl to share it with, because it isn’t particularly elegant or romantic, and this isn’t the wine you’d use to convert somebody who insists that they don’t like sweet wines. On the other hand, I feel like Cockburn’s statement on their website that port is “for more than just Christmas” has more substance to it than a predictable attempt by their marketing team to shift more of the wine, because the brightness and clarity of this wine’s palate unburdened by the heavy notes of added defrutum in cheap sherry make me want to drink it chilled on a sunny summer’s day moreso than any California rose does. I am interested to try a tawny port that is more typical of the style and would be open to any recommendations, including ones from Australia.
Whoa, that is a huge serving of port.
Love the pour and the review! I have to be in a special mood for port, but it is a great time when I am.