Port ProDuCers anD shiPPers 235On his death in 1841, Sandeman was followed into the business by his nephew,
George Glas Sandeman, who enlarged the company to include insurance and the export
of British linen and textiles. The firm even ran its own schooner, the Hoopoe, which plied
the high seas under the company flag until 1875. George Glas Sandeman was the first in
a long line of Sandemans whose direct descendants continue to oversee the firm today.
Under his son, Albert George Sandeman, the firm began to promote its own brand name
and in 1880 the House of Sandeman became the first Port shipper to export wine bottled
and labelled in Oporto. In the early years of the twentieth century, the firm began a high-
profile marketing and advertising campaign based on the Sandeman partners. ‘Three Star’,
‘Picador’ and ‘Partners’ were the Sandeman Port brands of the day. The Don reinforced
Sandeman’s pre-eminent position at a time when other shippers were still shipping Port
in bulk without brand names of their own.
Despite the focus on volume, Sandeman’s vintage Ports were among the very best in
the business. A vertical tasting held in London in 2011 showed how the wines excelled,
sometimes in unusual years like 1948, 1950, 1965 and 1967. There were some outstanding
wines from mainstream vintages like 1966, 1955, and 1935, even back to an ethereal 1873.
But standards began to change after the Sandeman family lost control of the company when
it was forced to go public in 1952. For the late David Sandeman, who chaired the firm
from London in the 1980s, this marked ‘the beginning of the end’. The company became
easy prey for a takeover. Forestalling an unfriendly bid from Rumasa, chief predator in the
Sherry trade of the 1970s, the firm was sold to drinks multinational Seagram in 1980. With
control of the company remote from both Jerez and Oporto, Sandeman seemed to wander
directionless and the wines lacked something as a result. From 1970 onwards vintages shed
much of their depth and dimension while Founder’s Reserve, one of the bestselling brands
of Port in the US, became a pale relic of its former self.
In 1990 Sandeman celebrated its bicentenary. It proved to be something of a milestone
in the company’s history, marking the beginning of a period of retrenchment. George
Sandeman was appointed Managing Director in Oporto, bringing back the direct
involvement of the family. Quinta do Confradeiro, a relatively low-grade vineyard, was
sold and over three hundred farmers were laid off, leaving the firm with Quinta do Vau,
an A-grade riverside vineyard which the company purchased in 1988. After a run of
rather light vintage Ports in the early 1980s, Sandeman decided not to make a declaration
between 1985 and 1994. Based on Quinta do Vau, which was extensively replanted at
the end of the 1980s, Sandeman’s vintage Ports changed in style with the 1994 and
subsequent declared vintages showing more depth and breadth.
One style of wine, which never suffered during the years of upheaval, is aged tawny.
Sandeman possess excellent stocks of old wine, some of which are aged at Cambres in
the Douro, which form a chain of tawnies from Imperial Tawny Reserve (approximately
seven years old) to a distinguished forty-year-old. These wines regularly win trophies in
international wine competitions.
In 2001 Sandeman’s Port and Sherry interests were acquired by Sogrape, who now
run the company in tandem with Ferreira and Offley. Quinta do Seixo, once a Ferreira