1987 Cockburn Tua

Tasting notes for individual Ports, with an index sorted by vintage and alphabetically.
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Tasting notes for individual Ports, with an index sorted by vintage and alphabetically.
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Will W.
Taylor’s LBV
Posts: 183
Joined: 14:33 Thu 11 Aug 2016

1987 Cockburn Tua

Post by Will W. »

Having never had a Quinta do Tua and being largely unfamiliar with Cockburn’s vintage ports, this bottle made for a very pleasant educative experience.

In the glass after a five-hour decant on 07 June 2020, the semi-opaque wine showed clear signs of bricking. The nose was proffered a youthful medley of minerals, coniferous forest floor, raspberries, black currants and cherries. With respect to the latter, I never could decide whether they were black or red (i.e., do read on). A certain spice likewise tickled the olfactory nerve. At the fore-palate, wild strawberries were in evidence, along with hints of pine sap and nettle tea. These sensations gave way quickly to candied orange peel, grape stem, coffee and, counter-intuitively, far less spice than had been discerned at the nose. I found myself struggling to identify much of anything at the back-palate, beyond the gentlest of tannins – principally, I think, because each mouthful of this port differed than the previous and I became obsessed with finding consistency at the fore- and mid-palate for the purposes of this tasting note. ‘Twas my failing, not that of the port. As to the finish: it was understated, most agreeable and of medium length, the principal note being that of lemongrass.

This wine was very well balanced, with the levels of acidity and residual sugar being minimal. Indeed, the 1987 Quinta do Tua proved to be quite a dry port, though it is not to be confused with the Bomfim of the same year, the fruit being much more in evidence on the palate with the latter. At or near its peak, this sphinx of a wine should challenge the senses for another decade from its position, alongside the Bomfim, at the top (to paraphrase a certain solicitor-cum-wine secretary) of its generation's second rank.

-91 Points
Last edited by Will W. on 13:00 Sun 17 Jan 2021, edited 1 time in total.
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Alex Bridgeman
Graham’s 1948
Posts: 14880
Joined: 13:41 Mon 25 Jun 2007
Location: Berkshire, UK

Re: 1987 Cockburn Tua

Post by Alex Bridgeman »

You have tasted and drunk a pretty rare wine. As far as we have been able to tell, 1987 is the only year in which the Tua wines were separately vinified, bottled and sold under the Tua label. It's many years since I have tasted one, but when I last did I had the same impression as you - it's a jolly decent wine.
Top Ports in 2023: Taylor 1896 Colheita, b. 2021. A perfect Port.

2024: Niepoort 1900 Colheita, b.1971. A near perfect Port.
Christopher
Niepoort LBV
Posts: 286
Joined: 14:24 Thu 17 Jan 2008
Location: London

Re: 1987 Cockburn Tua

Post by Christopher »

AHB , I picked up a 1947 Tua a few years ago, I don’t think it’s in the book!
Andy Velebil
Quinta do Vesuvio 1994
Posts: 3028
Joined: 22:16 Mon 25 Jun 2007
Location: Los Angeles, Ca USA
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Re: 1987 Cockburn Tua

Post by Andy Velebil »

Christopher wrote: 19:38 Fri 10 Jul 2020 AHB , I picked up a 1947 Tua a few years ago, I don’t think it’s in the book!
The author will request high res pictures be sent to him. Or he'll say it's not a big enough brand to warrant a new chapter. :lol:
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