Description
THE ELEGANCE OF AGE, THE ENERGY OF YOUTH. WARM AND WELCOMING.
Take top quality grapes (trodden) and plenty of seasoned wood barrels. Lay aside to rest. Then just add Time.
Our Special Reserve Port was first created in 1969. Then, it was the first of its kind and caused a revolution in the way Port was seen and drunk by people around the world. Our winemakers have stayed true to the original style of this remarkable wine. We select only the finest, most concentrated flawlessly perfect grapes from Cockburn’s vineyards at Quinta dos Canais, which are picked by hand during the harvest and then after a little ‘pisa’ (that’s our word for grape-treading in Portugal) we turn these into wine.
AGEING
The wine is then aged in seasoned oak barrels, handmade by our own team of coopers and this is when we add our special ingredient, a good serving of Time. We mature our Special Reserve for longer than other reserve Ports.
What’s so special about that? Well, these extra years in the barrels are what give Cockburn’s Special Reserve its characteristic balance and smoothness.
TASTING NOTES
Our Special Reserve still has the lusciously ripe, vibrant fruit of youth and lovely tannins, which give it the slightly peppery spice on the tongue. But it also has the elegance of age: the softness and smoothness that can only be achieved by slow ageing in old oak barrels. That’s what puts the Special in Special Reserve.
