Porto, the second most famous city in Portugal is known for its Port wine production. You can’t leave Porto without visiting a wine cellar.
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Wine cellar booking online
We choose to visit Cockburn’s wine cellar after reading positive reviews in getyourguide. The wine cellar visit turned out great as the guided tour offered a great value for the money paid. There are plenty of win cellar operators and you can book directly on their website as well. But the advantage of getyourguide is that it allows you free cancellation until 24 hours before your visit.
The booking confirmation is instant and you receive your mobile voucher through email.
How to reach Cockburn’s wine cellar by public transportation
Douro river separates Porto into two halves. While all the tourist attractions of Porto lie on one side of the river (north), the wine cellars lie on the Southern side, the main reason being lower tax compared to the other side.
The closest bus stop to the Cockburn wine cellar is ‘Rosa Mota‘ during your onward journey to the cellar from the city center. Bus numbers #901, and #906 stop here. Get down and walk a few hundred meters down the road opposite your bus stop. The wine cellar comes to your left.
When you return, the bus stop is different as buses in that area do a round trip. You need to take bus #901 or #906 from the bus stop ‘Serpa Pinto‘, only a few meters from the wine cellar. Google maps are accurate with respect to using public transport. They should help in reaching the Porto city center.
Entry fee
The Porto wine cellars have a wide range of entry fees starting from an affordable classic tasting of 15€ up to a premium tasting of 60€. Here is the price list for Cockburn’s wine cellar
Pro-tip: The duration and content in your guided tour is the same irrespective of the wine tasting you choose. So choose the lowest option if you interest is only wine cellar visit.
Guided tour
The guided tour lasts roughly 1.5 hours and it starts with the guide explaining the history of Port wine dating back to the second century BC. The wines were produced in the Douro valley, located 150 km east of Porto.
The cellars are huge and the first establishment was in 1815. This wine aging warehouse is built over a large area. The tour starts with a visit to a few large barrels
The tour continues with a short video clip about the history of Port wine.
Cooperage
A Cooper refers to a person who makes these wine barrels. Cooperage, a special room (workspace) dedicated to the coopers to make those barrels. It requires precise skills and years of experience to become a cooper.
Cockburn is in constant search of coopers but in the modern era who wants to make a wine barrel?
Wine barrel on all sides
Now you enter a large wine aging warehouse area where you only see wine barrels on all sides. Depending on the customer’s requirements, the wine aging time is defined accordingly.
Vintage Port storage
The last segment has all vintage Ports stored. You can’t access them as they are caged. All you can see in the wine bottle with the manufacturing year.
Wine tasting
Finally, the tour ends with the much-awaited wine tasting. We chose the Premium tasting with chocolate pairing. The guided tour ends with the wine tasting.
To our surprise, each table had a reservation for the respective person with the wine and chocolate ready to be tasted. The guide even explained the ingredients and how you will feel tasting them. It was a mind-blowing experience.
Our tasting had 3 wines
1. Cockburn’s Fine White + Passion fruit
Made only from white grapes, the Fine White is an elegant Port with crisp flowery aromas and hints of tropical fruits that perfectly match the passion fruit chocolate
2. Cockburn’s 10-year-old Tawny + Cinnamon chocolate
The 10-year-old Tawny a silky smooth and delicately fruity with notes of vanilla, honey, and spice flavors that are a perfect match to cinnamon chocolate.
3. Quinta Dos canais vintage
Vintage Port is very rich, with ripe, red fruit flavors, and minty aromas. Together with Rasberry chocolate, it offers a great balance between the acidity and sweetness of the fruit.
After tasting the top-quality Port wines, you exit through a small souvenir store. The place has a large collection of Port wine in different price ranges. They also ship worldwide.
Is Cockburn wine cellar worth visiting?
The short answer is 100%. Because it was a fascinating experience for us to visit a wine cellar. The tour guide was knowledgeable and answered all the questions. When in Porto, visiting one of the wine cellars should be #1 on your list.
Time of visit: April 2022
Overall experience: 