For The Love Of Port

Rain came today after several days during which it felt like high Douro summer. It has been hot in the vineyards. Thank goodness for cooling equipment because there were some days last week when the grapes where simply too warm coming into our wineries. In the old days my father and uncles would hav...

I was intrigued to read Roy’s tasting note on the Dow’s 1896. This wine has a particular relevance to my family as my great-grandparents Andrew and Beatrice Symington sent a case of this exact same Port to their son, my grandfather Maurice, who was serving with the British Army in France in 1916 dur...

Thank you for your comments. We are very pleased and we can now get down to work. When my father joined his father Maurice and his Uncles in our family Port company in 1947, Cockburn's was the leading Port company here in Portugal and its Vintage Port reputation was the very finest and second to non...

Hi All of you, Esteva is Gum Cistus in English. It is also known as rock rose. It is known by many as the flower of the Douro. The plant gives off a wonderful aroma that in warm weather can be noted all around the scrub surrounding the vineyards. The leaves are sticky and the flowers very attractive...

The following extract from a book written by Oswald John Frederick Crawfurd (1834-1909), British Consul in Oporto from 1867 to 1891 may be of interest. He was a writer of some repute and he married Meta Ford, daughter of Richard Ford, famous author of ‘Hand Book for Traveller’s in Spain’ published i...

There is more misinformation about LBV than just about any Port category, with some wild claims made to say the least. The real story is that for centuries the actual bottling time for Vintage Port was not defined. The producer would decide when he wanted to bottle, sometimes aftet two years in cask...