1966 Sandeman

[uncle tom]

A Wine Society bottling, with all too common (for the era) Wine Society poor level (vts). Very decayed label and wretched plastic capsule - the risk of self-harm when taking a Stanley knife to these is considerable..

Decanted 6pm - fair amount of sludgy sediment - average colour for the age.

First sip - approachable, few rough edges and minimal bottle stink, good rich fruit to the fore - promising..

.. more anon

Tom

[Andy Velebil]

Tom,
I hate those pesky plastic tops that were so common on the '66 and '67 vintages. Thank goodness they no longer use them. I am always scared that I'm going to cut off a finger trying to get them off.

[Alex Bridgeman]

What fun, I like the Sandeman '66 but haven't had one for a couple of years now. I shall be very interested to read what you think of it.

Alex

[KillerB]

A Wine Society bottling

Does it have a really horrible label?

I really enjoyed the 1966 that I had polishing it off at home with Treacle.

[DRT]

This will be interesting. I have had this twice in recent years and it was definately fading. I wonder if it has the same wide bottle variation as it's older brother the 63?

KillerB - I think those dodgy WS labels on the M85 were only created for the centinery cellebration. I have had WS bottlings of other wines that just have "normal" shippers labels with their name as the bottler on the label

Derek

[uncle tom]

24hrs on..

A gloriously soft and luxurious wine - no fire now, and not that heavy. Perfectly integrated and mature.

To score:

For immediate gratification, this is well up the scale - not quite in the dizzy heights - it's a little too light for that - but an easy 9.

Where's it going? I don't feel that this has enough substance to go on and on, indeed I fear it may go downhill fairly rapidly - but I'll be optimisitc and dock just one point for ten years hence.

So score 9-8

The label is the standard and rather basic Wine Society label that was used for this, and also the '63 vintage as well (I think) with only the name of the shipper and vintage changing from label to label - printed on rather cheap paper that tends to buckle or fall off over time.

In this case, the label is almost decayed beyond recognition, so it may well have enjoyed cooler than average cellaring.

Tom

[uncle tom]

Another day and this is quietly getting better..

..for a wine at the light end of the spectrum, this is as good as I've known - no rough edges at all - glorious!

Tom