1960 Cockburn

This vintage has a great significance for Peter Cobb, who had been invited to the tasting. He joined Cockburn in 1960. It was also Johnny Symington’s birth year. He declared that 1960 ‘is old for a port, young for a person’. Dry, cold winter, rain in March and a little in August. General declaration but no one wanted to buy it because of the global depression. Cockburn 1960 was sold in tranches. At the time a vineyard worker would earn 24 escudos for a day’s work and woman 12. Dominic Symington told how he had met someone who at this time had walked barefoot to Paris to find work. Light ruby on a tawny cusp. Light, sweet, just a little simple. A bit hot on the end though a hint of violets. The tannins are little dry and the alcohol is coming out on the finish. It’s respectable but not sensational. None of the VA that marks many 1960s. (JR)