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  • Country ranking ?

    54
  • Producer ranking ?

    3
  • Decanting time

    4h
  • When to drink

    from 2025
  • Food Pairing

    Stilton & Aged cheddar

The Tb points given to this wine are the world’s most valid and most up-to-date evaluation of the quality of the wine. Tastingbook points are formed by the Tastingbook algorithm which takes into account the wine ratings of the world's best-known professional wine critics, wine ratings by thousands of tastingbook’s professionals and users, the generally recognised vintage quality and reputation of the vineyard and winery. Wine needs at least five professional ratings to get the Tb score. Tastingbook.com is the world's largest wine information service which is an unbiased, non-commercial and free for everyone.

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99 Points - James Suckling 
"Extremely complex aromas that show the classic Graham character of black-fruit marmalade and burnt oranges. Follows through to a full body with great grip at the finish. Lightly sweet. Chewy and powerful. Such a focus at the end." James Suckling 

95 Points-Neal Martin, Vinous
"The 2016 Graham’s Vintage Port is inky black in colour. The bouquet is voluminous and intense, the aromas almost shrouding your head! B...

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The Story

The epitome of bottle-aged Port.

Opulent wild blackberries, fragrance of violets, scents of flowers and wild herbs, rockrose, mint, hints of spice, bottled in their time capsule and left to mull over for years. The finish is long and persistent. It never really finishes, in fact, because just as it starts to, you’ll take another sip. We are not satisfied with anything less than perfection. And nor should you be. So, we only ‘declare’ a Vint...

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Vintage 2016

The 2016 harvest in the Douro brought perfectly-timed rain that turned a good year into a great one. Fortunately, despite a challenging growing season and a much adjusted and delayed picking schedule, those producers with excellent vineyard knowledge and confident decision-making, were rewarded with spectacular Vintage Ports.

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Latest Pro-tasting notes

<10 tasting notes

Tasting note

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Written Notes

The third vintage under the new regime (11, 15 and 16 – interestingly, Cockburn’s was the only House within the Symington group to make a 2015 VP). Normally, anything to do with Port requires patience and time, yet here, the massive leap forward in the quality at Cockburn’s is already more than apparent.

This is a fabulous effort, pure yet dense. It is one of the most wonderfully aromatic VPs on offer from 2016. Black fruits dominate and it really packs in the flavour. Good acidity, spirit and, together with some slightly crunchy tannins, all the components needed, all in place, for the future. This is well balanced. And like all the good VPs from this vintage, amazing length. Years ahead of it. Tasted twice with similar notes and the scores very close. Again, take your pick. 95 or 96.

  • 96p

This is quite primal, with lush plum, blackberry and açai berry reduction rolling through, pushed by warm licorice and Black Forest cake notes. A substantial bass line thumps on the finish, showing plenty of sparkly spice and incense details hitting the top range. Best from 2030 through 2050.

  • 96p

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.

  • 99p

The 2016 Cockburn’s, which comes mainly from the Bico de Pato vineyard, is deep in colour, perhaps more so than other vintages of this Port encountered during previous declaration tastings. The nose is tight at first, almost Bordeaux-like with blackberry, raspberry coulis, touches of inkwell and cassis. There is admirable purity here. The palate is beautifully balanced with supple tannin, a wonderful line of acidity and immense harmony. There is presence but not weight, a silky smooth finish with hints of raisin and fig that linger tenderly in the mouth. What a marvellous Cockburn’s! Production is 2,450 cases.

  • 95p
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Information

Origin

Douro, Douro

Drinking temperature

17-18C
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