1963 Sandeman

Tasting notes for individual Ports, with an index sorted by vintage and alphabetically.
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Tasting notes for individual Ports, with an index sorted by vintage and alphabetically.
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uncle tom
Dalva Golden White Colheita 1952
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Location: Near Saffron Walden, England

1963 Sandeman vintage port

Post by uncle tom »

An odd bottle of no known provenance, decanted Dec 23rd.

What a hot tired dismal wine this was, both at D + 6hrs and again at D + 30hrs, when I had hoped it might have come round a little - but in vain..

(it was then drunk out of its misery!)

Somewhere in the ruins of this juice, their had probably been a decent bottle once..

One of the least impressive bottles of the year - no real enjoyment to be found..

Score 1-0

Tom
I may be drunk, Miss, but in the morning I shall be sober and you will still be ugly - W.S. Churchill
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JacobH
Quinta do Vesuvio 1994
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Re: Sandeman 1963 vintage port

Post by JacobH »

Tom,

Was this bottle in reasonable condition? Reviews of this wine seem to vary quite a lot and I wonder whether there is any correlation between the condition of the cork or where it was bottled and how well it has matured?
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Alex Bridgeman
Graham’s 1948
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Re: Sandeman 1963 vintage port

Post by Alex Bridgeman »

Sandeman (and, indeed, Noval) are in my experience very variable ports from the 1963 vintage. I've had great bottles of both and also bottles of both that performed the way that Tom has just described. In my experience, it's difficult to predict how any particular bottle will perform.
Top Ports in 2023: Taylor 1896 Colheita, b. 2021. A perfect Port.

2024: Niepoort 1900 Colheita, b.1971. A near perfect Port.
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uncle tom
Dalva Golden White Colheita 1952
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Re: Sandeman 1963 vintage port

Post by uncle tom »

Jacob,

It was English bottled, level VTS and had a sound cork, so no major cause for concern..

Tom
I may be drunk, Miss, but in the morning I shall be sober and you will still be ugly - W.S. Churchill
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DRT
Fonseca 1966
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Re: Sandeman 1963 vintage port

Post by DRT »

uncle tom wrote:It was English bottled
By whom?
"The first duty of Port is to be red"
Ernest H. Cockburn
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KillerB
Taylor Quinta de Vargellas 1987
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Re: Sandeman 1963 vintage port

Post by KillerB »

We had a great bottle of this at the October off-line at The Bell - did anybody take any notes at all?
Port is basically a red drink
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DRT
Fonseca 1966
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Re: Sandeman 1963 vintage port

Post by DRT »

KillerB wrote:We had a great bottle of this at the October off-line at The Bell - did anybody take any notes at all?
Wasn't that a Sandeman 66?
"The first duty of Port is to be red"
Ernest H. Cockburn
Andy Velebil
Quinta do Vesuvio 1994
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Re: Sandeman 1963 vintage port

Post by Andy Velebil »

DRT wrote:
KillerB wrote:We had a great bottle of this at the October off-line at The Bell - did anybody take any notes at all?
Wasn't that a Sandeman 66?
It was the 1960 Sandeman VP, bottled by BB&R (as was stamped on the cork, yet had no mention of that on the label which was odd). It appeared to have been a fairly recent release, possibly from their collection if they have one, as it had a newer label and the wax top didn't look all that old. Or it could have been bought back by the Sandeman company some years ago and recently re-released. Either way it was stunningly good bottle considering most 1960's are on the downhill decline now.
Roy Hersh
Niepoort LBV
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Re: Sandeman 1963 vintage port

Post by Roy Hersh »

Actually, Alex K. is correct. We did have the 1963 Sandeman and it was the third bottle in our lineup, which followed directly after the 1927 Fonseca. The 1960 Sandeman VP which we also enjoyed that night at The Bell, was served 7th of the 12 notes I have.

My notes on the Sandeman 1963 for that evening reflect a very good showing. Dark ruby in color, herbal/minty, some strawberry and spirit on the nose as well. At peak but not over-the-hill like other bottles in recent years. This was a BB&R bottling. I gave it 91 points and blathered on a bit more in my notebook.
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uncle tom
Dalva Golden White Colheita 1952
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Re: Sandeman 1963 vintage port

Post by uncle tom »

It was English bottled
By whom?
Don't know, but was in the typical English green glass '60's bottle.

Tom
I may be drunk, Miss, but in the morning I shall be sober and you will still be ugly - W.S. Churchill
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