Cockburn's Port Lodge — Attraction in Vila Nova de Gaia

Wonderful Tour Guide 'Isa'

I recently had the pleasure of visiting Cockburn's Porto Lodge in Porto, Portugal, and I must say, it was an exceptional experience from start to finish. The highlight of our visit was undoubtedly the tour, which was made even more memorable by our fantastic tour guide, Isa. Isa was not only incredibly knowledgeable about the history of Cockburn's and the process of making port wine, but she also had a passion for sharing her expertise with us. She kept us engaged and entertained throughout the tour, and her enthusiasm was infectious. She went above and beyond to ensure that we had a memorable experience, and we were truly grateful for her dedication and hospitality. The wine tasting at the end of the tour was a delightful treat, and we were impressed by the quality and variety of wines that we were able to sample. Isa guided us through the tasting, explaining the unique characteristics of each wine and helping us to appreciate the nuances of each one. It was a truly educational and enjoyable experience, and we left with a newfound appreciation for port wine. In addition to the exceptional tour and wine tasting, I must also commend the staff at Cockburn's for their exceptional service. My two friends and I were treated like royalty from the moment we arrived, and we felt welcomed and valued throughout our visit. The attention to detail and the level of care that we received truly set Cockburn's apart from other wineries that we have visited in the past. Overall, our experience at Cockburn's Porto Lodge was nothing short of extraordinary, and much of that can be attributed to Isa and the exceptional tour that she provided. I would highly recommend a visit to Cockburn's to anyone looking for a memorable and informative wine tasting experience especially if your guide happens to be Isa.

Thank you, Cockburn's and Isa, for a truly...

Porto is very famous of Porto wine and to do a wine taste tour is always on the top of the list. We chose Cockburn to do our wine tasting base on a recommendation from a friend, we are very happy we came here as after our trip we figured Cockburn is one of the top brand in the entire Portugal and they are collaborating with several Europe prestigious royal families to supply their wine too. First , before you came, please book a tour on their website , and they have different options. We in the end chose the premium wine tour cost each of us 40euros , which is definitely worth it. There are cheaper option too. They are actually quite popular and it is possible they might not accept your booking, so try to book the tour in advance and plan your time ahead. Second, how to reach here, is either by taxi or you can drive here, they have plenty of parking spaces, though the way to drive here definitely a bit challenge , but this is Porto, driving is always a headache. Third , the wine tour itself took around 1h+, including a very detailed explanatory tour to show us the wine storages, their wine collection and how the wine can age and change its note and flavors and in the end of the tour, they offered us three glass of premium Porto wine which for the very first time I started to appreciate and love the taste of red wine , they are sooooo good. After that they have a shop selling their wine products , we bought quite a lot of bottles as we want to share with our family and friends of the good wine. They have delivery service within Europe.

Overall experience is very...

(This is not about the experience in Cockburn's Lodge, but their overall reservation system.) We reserved the experience at noon (the reservation was not under my name), because that was one of times available. However, we got an email 10 hours later saying that they moved us to four p.m. My boyfriend called the place and said we could not make it at that time, due to travel time. They offered to move it to an earlier time, but by then, we already were annoyed and decided to cancel it and find somewhere else to listen to port history and tasting. They agreed to cancel the reservation for us. However, when we got back to the States, the money went out of the account. If they were going to charge us, they should have specified upfront about their policies, or not use such deception. It's also laughable that they ask you to pay in advance in the first place. Go to Graham's Port Lodge - they take reservations by email, no security deposits, and basically the port is the same anyways (they are derived from the same company). Terrible overall customer experience. I'm sure the port experience and whatnot would have been the same...