Cockburn’s was founded in 1815, the year of the Battle of Waterloo, by the Scottish brothers Robert and John Cockburn. Originally wine merchants in Leith, Scotland, their Port house was founded to secure a supply of wines from the Douro valley. Robert Cockburn declared on founding the company: “The quality of the wine – that is the first thing to be looked to”. The next phase of Cockburn’s history was forged by a group of remarkable families – the Smithes, the Teages, and the Cobbs – who followed Robert Cockburn’s vision and developed the company into one of the greatest Port producers. Cockburn’s Vintage Ports invariably fetched the highest prices at the international wine auctions in the late 19th and early 20th centuries. Cockburn’s, which has a rich history of doing things differently, made its home in the Douro Superior, a region almost unknown to most Port producers in the 19th century. Today the company has two estates in the Douro Superior; the magnificent 97 hectare vineyard at Quinta dos Canais and, even further east, the small but beautiful 13 hectare vineyard at Quinta do Vale Coelho. The Symington family acquired Cockburn’s in December 2010 after 48 years of multinational ownership, during which time the reputation of Cockburn’s had waned somewhat. With the return to family ownership, the company was immediately refocused on its vineyards and on the quality of its Port Wines. Since that time Cockburn’s Ports are once again winning international acclaim.
