2015-11-09 Release of Cockburn 1977 port

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Alex Bridgeman
Fonseca 1966
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2015-11-09 Release of Cockburn 1977 port

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In a press release Symington Family Estates wrote:
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1977 Vintage Port Bicentenary Limited Edition

Following the acquisition of Cockburn’s in 2006, the Symington family were surprised to find 116 cases of 1977 Vintage Port in a corner of the company’s cellars. Cockburn’s famously did not ‘declare’ a 1977 Vintage, although virtually every other Port house did so.

Cockburn’s had been under multinational ownership since 1962 and the head office strangely turned down the request of the company’s winemakers in Portugal to ‘declare’ the 1977 Vintage, apparently a vintage offer did not fit into the multinational’s global corporate plan, despite excellent weather conditions and the obvious quality of the wine. Fighting to keep the independent spirit of Cockburn’s alive, the winemakers in Portugal quietly ignored the head-office’s command and discretely bottled two barrels of this exceptional Vintage Port. The bottles were then hidden in a quiet corner of the vast Cockburn’s cellars in Vila Nova de Gaia, where they have remained undisturbed for 36 years.

When the Symingtons were preparing for the Cockburn’s bicentenary in 2015 it became clear that there could be no better way of celebrating this historic anniversary than by releasing this rare Vintage Port. Finally the covert plans of the Cockburn’s winemakers can see the light of day; each bottle of Cockburn’s 1977 Vintage Port reflects the independent and sometimes idiosyncratic spirit of this great Port house that never died under the long years of multinational ownership

The remaining 1,400 bottles of Cockburn’s 1977 Vintage Port will be available through fine wine merchants.
Vila Nova de Gaia, XX 2015

About Symington Family Estates
The Symingtons have been Port producers for five generations since 1882 but their involvement in Port dates back fourteen generations to 1652 through their great-grandmother Beatrice Leitão de Carvalhosa Atkinson. The family company is the leading quality Port producer with companies such as Graham’s, Cockburn’s, Dow’s and Warre’s as well as being the leading vineyard owner in the Douro Valley with 1 006 hectares (2 486 acres) of vines at 27 Quintas. Many of the region’s finest Quintas belong to the family. For more information on Symington Family Estates, visit http://www.symington.com and discover more on blog.grahams-port.com and http://www.facebook.com/grahams.port.wine
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2024: Niepoort 1900 Colheita, b.1971. A near perfect Port.
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