Sandeman Unfiltered Late Bottled Vintage Port is a deep ruby-coloured wine, with intense and complex aromas of ripe blackberries, black cherries, strawberries and plums. These are balanced with subtle notes of cocoa and spice, leading to a lively, full-bodied palate of firm tannins and concentrated fruit flavours. It culminates with a long, lingering finish.

This product is best decanted before consumption with chocolate desserts, creamy cheeses or red fruit tarts.

About the Producer

There are few more iconic images in the world of wine than the ‘Don’, the logo created for the Sandeman family in 1928 by George Massiot Brown. The cape was modelled on the attire worn by university students in Porto, while the wide-brimmed hat was a nod to the family’s presence in Jerez. Today, the wines are good enough to be every bit as famous as the image of the Don. Since Sogrape bought Sandeman in 2002, the major improvements and investment that have taken place in the vineyards and the winemaking has seen the wines rise to the top of the tree in Port.

Vineyard and Winery

The Touriga Franca, Touriga Nacional, Tinta Roriz, Tinta Barroca and Tinto Cão grapes that make up the LBV blend are sourced from prime sites in the Cima Corgo sub-region of the Douro including Quinta do Seixo and Quinta do Vau. The soil in the Douro Valley is schist - a slate-like metamorphic rock, that fractures vertically, allowing the vine roots to dig deep to access water and nutrients to sustain them through the hot Douro summers. The vines are planted on terraces supported by dry stone walls on the steep hillsides sloping down to the Douro river. Given the steep gradients and the inaccessibility for machinery, vineyard operations and harvesting are carried out by hand.

Upon arrival at the Quinta do Seixo winery, the grapes were destemmed and gently crushed. Fermentation took place in granite lagares with vigorous treading to extract the ideal levels of colour, flavour and tannin from the grape skins. The ferment was closely monitored to determine the ideal moment to halt the fermentation by fortifying with grape spirit, leaving some of the grapes’ natural sugars. The wines remained in the Douro until the spring following the harvest when they were transported downstream to the historic Sandeman cellars in Vila Nova de Gaia for ageing in oak casks for around four years. The wines were regularly tasted and analysed during this time and the final blend was assembled from a selection of the best casks. The LBV is bottled unfiltered, in order to preserve its great intensity of flavour.