When Jamie W and I crossed the Dom Luis I Bridge from Porto to the neighboring town of Villa Nova de Gaia, we knew there was one essential thing we had to do - drink some port. The question became where because there are at least a dozen port houses open to the piblic. I gravitated to Sandeman because a giant Sandeman poster has been hanging in our kitchen for over twenty years.
In fact, the black silhouette of the caped man on my poster is still on the bottle. Sandeman has a nice building facing the Douro River, and it houses a hotel and restaurant as well as their wine store and tasting room. They also have a cafe and wine bar on their open front terrace, and that's what hooked us. We decided to have a couple of 8€ glasses of 10-year-old Sandeman Tawny Port Wine (Photo 9).
Fermenting a decade in an oak barrel, it was rich and velvety with notes of cherries, blackberries, dates, and toasted almonds. Quite satisfying and not too sweet. We also treated ourselves to the 5€ Rosemary Panna Cotta with Red Fruits Coulis, a delightfully light dessert that effortlessly picked up the flavors of the port (Photo). Now I have a positive experience to go with my poster back home.
PORT / DESSERT - 4 stars...rich & sweet matching flavors
AMBIANCE - 4 stars...al fresco on a nice day
SERVICE - 3.5 stars...a bit rushed
TOTAL - 4 stars...now I know what Sandeman really is
RELATED - Exploring Porto? Here's a collection of places I've visited and reviewed: https://yelp.to/qwD-IC0fL- read more