One of the key rules to pairing wine with dessert is sweetness, and what better to go with something as sweet as chocolate than Porto. Cockburns Special Reserve Porto is a Special Reserve that helps bridge the gap from Ruby Port to Vintage Port. This is thanks to the extra time it spends in the oak cask (up to 4-5 years). With it lasting up to 6 weeks, it might even outlast your Halloween candy!
[Disclosure: Cockburns was nice enough to send me a sample of their wine to talk about for Halloween. Cockburns is a great producer of Porto, so I was excited to say yes!]
Sight: A purple with a hard brickish edge.
Smell: A deeply prune laced nose that gives off a fair amount of heat. Notes of spice and bourbon soaked cherries come together, with blueberry jam. The heat off the nose is hard to get past.
Sip: The body is full, fleshy, and textured with a pruned sweetness. Prune and jammy blueberries come together with a massive number of baking spices and bourbon cherry notes. A woodsy element comes in, leaving a cedar and charred oak character..
Savor: The ending pulls in a strong amount of tannins, with lots of stewed cherries and plums. Smoke and oak comes through.
Cockburns Special Reserve Porto is hot, with lots of spice and fruit. The flavors here are jammy and with good spice, but everything seems just a little too much hot coming through. The bourbon soaked cherry notes here a play of the wood and fruit, but delicious. For halloween, this would make a good pairing for black licorice with it’s spice and fruit. Cockburns Special Reserve Porto is a nice choice for the fall season, and will definitely give you a fun kick with it’s fruit forward flavors.
Verdict: Bourbon Soaked Cherries, Prune, Baking Spices, Heat
Rating: 77
Price: $18 [This bottle was received as a sample]
Douro, Portugal