1947 Cockburn

[Alex Bridgeman]

An unknown half bottle brought by Justyn to the first Dublin offline. The cork came out with the first 2/3rds intact and the branding could be clearly read as Cockburn 1947! What a joy.

Decanted from a half bottle through muslin into a clean and empty pint glass and allowed to stand for an hour before being tasted. This was a very pale rose colour when decanted. Over the course of the hour the colour darkened noticeably to become a pink/pale brown similar to burnt sugar. The nose was just fabulous; all spice and cloves, smelling like mulled wine and over-ripe oranges. Initially sweet in the mouth but still with wonderful sage showing through, then sugar preserved cherries, cedar wood shavings and so much cinnamon. A superb mid-palate with lots of development. A quick burn of alcohol on swallowing and a hot start to the aftertaste that I didn't enjoy, an aftertaste of coffee (DT thought chocolate) that fades quickly.

Very pleasant and drinking beautifully, really enjoyable. Drink up, but if you have any then you will really enjoy drinking them. 8/7 or 93/100.


Part of the half bottle was put to one side and allowed to stand for a further 1½ hours to see whether there would be a further improvement in the wine - and there certainly was!

The colour was slightly darker than after 1 hour and the nose had further developed, with all the original scents and now an added coriander spiciness and baked apples that just soar from the glass. Lovely balanced entry, bringing sweet sugary raisins and restrained fruit. Just exquisite, full of flowery perfumes, mimosa and cherry juice. Wonderful! The aftertaste has now appeared. Gorgeous and long lasting with some delicate sweet kumquat flavours that glide on and on for a very respectable time.

An exquisite wine that is just wonderful for drinking now. 8/8. The bouquet of this wine stayed with me for a whole 24 hours and I could imagine that I was still smelling it on the plane on the way home the following evening - but I did keep putting my nose into the pint glass that had acted as our decanter as it was absolutely irresistable. Now 94/100.