NV Cockburn Special Reserve
- KillerB
- Taylor Quinta de Vargellas 1987
- Posts: 2425
- Joined: 22:09 Wed 20 Jun 2007
- Location: Sky Blue City, England
NV Cockburn Special Reserve
Bought at a low price with the prime purpose of sweetening chilli and enhancing Bolognese. Did a chilli tonight but thought I'd better taste to see whether my prediliction to slag this off was warranted.
Tasted soon after opening. Was a red drink. Was gloopy. Was a bit sweet. Had a dry, verging on acrid aftertaste that was deeply unpleasant.
Errmmm... it was horrible.
Tasted soon after opening. Was a red drink. Was gloopy. Was a bit sweet. Had a dry, verging on acrid aftertaste that was deeply unpleasant.
Errmmm... it was horrible.
Port is basically a red drink
Thank the Lord, I thought fo one minute you were going to say it was drinkable and we had all been missing a trick for years. I think we should continue to live by the age-old Douro motto:
Long live the Republic,
Long live the People,
Let them eat cake,
...and let them die happy,
Long live the tripe they drink named Cock-burn Special Reserve,
...and keep the good stuff for us.
(c) Barron Forrester
Derek
Long live the Republic,
Long live the People,
Let them eat cake,
...and let them die happy,
Long live the tripe they drink named Cock-burn Special Reserve,
...and keep the good stuff for us.
(c) Barron Forrester
Derek
"The first duty of Port is to be red"
Ernest H. Cockburn
Ernest H. Cockburn
- KillerB
- Taylor Quinta de Vargellas 1987
- Posts: 2425
- Joined: 22:09 Wed 20 Jun 2007
- Location: Sky Blue City, England
It reminded me of why I didn't like Port and then thought that Taylor's and Graham's LBVs were good. It's the stuff that we were brought up believing was the epitome of Port and I always hated it.
And now I know that I was right.
Made an acceptable chilli but might not be so good for a Bolognese.
And now I know that I was right.
Made an acceptable chilli but might not be so good for a Bolognese.
Port is basically a red drink
- RonnieRoots
- Fonseca 1980
- Posts: 1981
- Joined: 08:28 Thu 21 Jun 2007
- Location: Middle Earth
- RonnieRoots
- Fonseca 1980
- Posts: 1981
- Joined: 08:28 Thu 21 Jun 2007
- Location: Middle Earth
Alright, about a month ago I had to buy a bottle of this because I wanted to make pasta sauce. Made the sauce (despite the port), stuck the bottle in the fridge and tried to forget about it.
A sudden urge for port made me decide to pour a glass tonight. Served cold and from a lemonade glass: sweet, with a certain sweetness. Other than that it's clearly sweet, and notably sweet. The finish is highly interesting, as it will kill all the bacteria in your throat. Vicious. Finish tastes like vomit. Not sure I'm going to finish my glass...
I must admit that I also tried it shortly after I bought the bottle. It was notably worse then, as it didn't have the cover-up of the amount of sweetness (well, it was sweet of course, but not so much) and it was even hotter than now. So, if you have a bottle of this: leave it in the fridge for as long as you possibly can. It will get better.
A sudden urge for port made me decide to pour a glass tonight. Served cold and from a lemonade glass: sweet, with a certain sweetness. Other than that it's clearly sweet, and notably sweet. The finish is highly interesting, as it will kill all the bacteria in your throat. Vicious. Finish tastes like vomit. Not sure I'm going to finish my glass...
I must admit that I also tried it shortly after I bought the bottle. It was notably worse then, as it didn't have the cover-up of the amount of sweetness (well, it was sweet of course, but not so much) and it was even hotter than now. So, if you have a bottle of this: leave it in the fridge for as long as you possibly can. It will get better.
Ronnie,
Given your state of Port isolation perhaps you could try an experiment to see whether or not it is possilble to improve your Cockburn SR by blending it with something else.
For example: Mix 125ml of CSR with 125 ml of a good full-bodied dry red wine. Add a splash of brandy to bring the alcohol content back up to 20% (you do the maths, I can't be bothered). Leave it to breathe for a while so that the harsh alcohol from the brandy blows off.
Taste and report back here in a thread titled 2008 Oman Special Reserve
Derek
Given your state of Port isolation perhaps you could try an experiment to see whether or not it is possilble to improve your Cockburn SR by blending it with something else.
For example: Mix 125ml of CSR with 125 ml of a good full-bodied dry red wine. Add a splash of brandy to bring the alcohol content back up to 20% (you do the maths, I can't be bothered). Leave it to breathe for a while so that the harsh alcohol from the brandy blows off.
Taste and report back here in a thread titled 2008 Oman Special Reserve
Derek
"The first duty of Port is to be red"
Ernest H. Cockburn
Ernest H. Cockburn
- RonnieRoots
- Fonseca 1980
- Posts: 1981
- Joined: 08:28 Thu 21 Jun 2007
- Location: Middle Earth
Good idea. I would suggest you try both methods described above and then serve them blind alongside an untouched CSR control sample and see if you can spot the difference.RonnieRoots wrote:An even better idea might be to try to fortify some camel's urine and see how much better that is than the CSR.
It could be the first Off-line in Oman
"The first duty of Port is to be red"
Ernest H. Cockburn
Ernest H. Cockburn
- Alex Bridgeman
- Graham’s 1948
- Posts: 14915
- Joined: 13:41 Mon 25 Jun 2007
- Location: Berkshire, UK
You know, I think that we ought to have a Ruby Port blind tasting as the theme for one of our offlines. I'd like to try the CSR and see if it really is as bad as you make out - could it be worse than Cruz Ruby? What is the best ruby around, Javali or Grahams?
Would be interesting to try.
Would be interesting to try.
Top Ports in 2023: Taylor 1896 Colheita, b. 2021. A perfect Port.
2024: Niepoort 1900 Colheita, b.1971. A near perfect Port.
2024: Niepoort 1900 Colheita, b.1971. A near perfect Port.
- KillerB
- Taylor Quinta de Vargellas 1987
- Posts: 2425
- Joined: 22:09 Wed 20 Jun 2007
- Location: Sky Blue City, England
Javali is excellent. Cruz, we all agreed was better than CSR. Six Grapes is a very expensive Ruby. Throw Warrior, Bin 27, Midnight and a few others and I thin we have an off-line.AHB wrote:You know, I think that we ought to have a Ruby Port blind tasting as the theme for one of our offlines. I'd like to try the CSR and see if it really is as bad as you make out - could it be worse than Cruz Ruby? What is the best ruby around, Javali or Grahams?
Would be interesting to try.
Port is basically a red drink
If you thought the LBV tasting was down-market…
If you thought the LBV tasting was down-market…
- Alex Bridgeman
- Graham’s 1948
- Posts: 14915
- Joined: 13:41 Mon 25 Jun 2007
- Location: Berkshire, UK
Re: If you thought the LBV tasting was down-market…
Now, now. Port snobbery is not allowed.jdaw1 wrote:If you thought the LBV tasting was down-market…
Top Ports in 2023: Taylor 1896 Colheita, b. 2021. A perfect Port.
2024: Niepoort 1900 Colheita, b.1971. A near perfect Port.
2024: Niepoort 1900 Colheita, b.1971. A near perfect Port.
- RonnieRoots
- Fonseca 1980
- Posts: 1981
- Joined: 08:28 Thu 21 Jun 2007
- Location: Middle Earth
- Alex Bridgeman
- Graham’s 1948
- Posts: 14915
- Joined: 13:41 Mon 25 Jun 2007
- Location: Berkshire, UK