For The Love Of Port

Part of the '55 @ 55 tasting at the RAF Club in London with special guest Christian Seely on 12-OCT-2010 after the 2010 Port Harvest Tour.

1955 Sandeman Vintage Port

Color: Medium red
Nose: A bit dusty along with some faint alcohol.
Palate: Harsh-ish, dry-ish, Sandeman-ish.
Finish: Short, but not clipped.

Score: 86 points. Clearly not my style, which is becoming a common theme for me with Sandemans. Only the Martinez rated lower on the night for me.

Glenn, don't go by the results of this bottle. The Sandeman 1955 VP is one of the remaining heads of the class from this vintage. This bottle was NOT representative of what it can achieve from better stored bottles. I've had this with George 2x over the past 15 years and it is a real beauty when provenance is not questionable. Bottle variation may have been at work, but I guarantee that if you find a top notch bottle, you'd have a very different impression.

Roy Hersh wrote:Glenn, don't go by the results of this bottle. The Sandeman 1955 VP is one of the remaining heads of the class from this vintage.

When I read the title, I was expecting a big time score as that is an excellent vintage.

"Palate: Harsh-ish, dry-ish, Sandeman-ish." is not what I consider to Sandeman's style, at least for 1980 and older.

Moses Botbol wrote:

Roy Hersh wrote:Glenn, don't go by the results of this bottle. The Sandeman 1955 VP is one of the remaining heads of the class from this vintage.

When I read the title, I was expecting a big time score as that is an excellent vintage.

"Palate: Harsh-ish, dry-ish, Sandeman-ish." is not what I consider to Sandeman's style, at least for 1980 and older.

Oddly, the bulk of the Sandemans that I have had are 1977 and earlier. ('04, '50, '55, '57, '60, '63, '66, '70, '77, '85, '07) My favorite of the older ones was the '70, which I rated 90 points, followed by the '77 at 89+ points. I rated the 2007 at 93 and hadn't started rating Ports when I had the '85.

The most consistent notes throughout all of those bottles are dry to medium dry, and edgy or harsh. "Hot" and/or alcohol show up a lot too. The younger they are the less likely they are to show the bad traits, but given my experience with Sandeman I'd say that's probably because the fruit is still forward enough to cover when they're still young.

Now... most of my Sandemans have come at two tastings, and at both of those tastings I felt like something was off with my palate. So I haven't completely written Sandeman off yet, and am hoping that I'll have a good experience with the next one!

Glenn E. wrote:Oddly, the bulk of the Sandemans that I have had are 1977 and earlier. ('04, '50, '55, '57, '60, '63, '66, '70, '77, '85, '07)

^ Insert 1935 in there.

Oh yeah, at the 2009 Port Gala. That was a pretty good one, as I recall. Hmm... must not have gotten that one entered into the TNDB!