Sandeman Very Old Tawny Cask 33

I was sent a sample of this rather special wine which I thought I would share with you before Christmas. Sandeman have long produced some excellent aged tawnies, especially at the twenty and thrity year old levels. The lote from which this wine was made was laid down in 1963 and aged in naturally cool, humid cellars at Largo Miguel Bombarda in Vila Nova de Gaia. Sandeman call this 'O Quintal'  (the yard) because of the original earth floor.  The wines were aged in 40 oak pipes, each containing 635 litres, made by Sandeman's coopers in the 1940s. Cask 33 produced 685 bottles of this wine, in numbered hand blown bottles.

Sandeman Very Old Tawny, Cask 33 *****

Pale orange-amber with a golden glint; beautiful toasted almond complexity on the nose with apricot fruit and a touch of all-spice and the merest hint of cigar box; silky smooth and beautifully fresh with quince marmalade richness offset by crisp acidity, seamless on both the nose and palate, perfect poise. 19

Location: The Barn at the Rookery