2008 Sandeman LBV
Posted: 00:39 Wed 27 Aug 2014
I've had this a couple of times before, I have also just read Alex's notes on this wine which has influenced this.
It has a driven cork (a sign that they care, or a least want to look like they care) and a heavy bottle, the punt alone has escaped the marketing drive, scarcely more than dished; I have a theory about how seriously a wine takes itself by the depth of punt, but perhaps I am plagiarising someone else, anyhoo...
Very dark, well it is only six, not much on the nose, bit of fruit, bit of alcohol and a hint of freshness akin to pencils; it is the smell of unresolved port. On the palate a lot of tannin, my tongue feels like the anti-skid surface that you find in front of traffic lights, it has that same slightly jarring quality. There is fruit; yes I can taste cherries (Alex's influence I fear), but again a rather too rasping quality to it, a shade underripe perhaps. Stuffed with good things? Well, things, certainly. Whether they will prove to be good is for another decade to decide.
I would say as Borat does; 'This one...not so much'. It's just a bit clumsy.
Where to score it is a mystery. 4 to 6 if you were optimistic and using Tom's score, I would have thought low eighties on the 100pt thing. Alex rated it between 88 and 90, but then avid followers of would know that this is what he rates all his port at.
It has a driven cork (a sign that they care, or a least want to look like they care) and a heavy bottle, the punt alone has escaped the marketing drive, scarcely more than dished; I have a theory about how seriously a wine takes itself by the depth of punt, but perhaps I am plagiarising someone else, anyhoo...
Very dark, well it is only six, not much on the nose, bit of fruit, bit of alcohol and a hint of freshness akin to pencils; it is the smell of unresolved port. On the palate a lot of tannin, my tongue feels like the anti-skid surface that you find in front of traffic lights, it has that same slightly jarring quality. There is fruit; yes I can taste cherries (Alex's influence I fear), but again a rather too rasping quality to it, a shade underripe perhaps. Stuffed with good things? Well, things, certainly. Whether they will prove to be good is for another decade to decide.
I would say as Borat does; 'This one...not so much'. It's just a bit clumsy.
Where to score it is a mystery. 4 to 6 if you were optimistic and using Tom's score, I would have thought low eighties on the 100pt thing. Alex rated it between 88 and 90, but then avid followers of would know that this is what he rates all his port at.