The Lodge of Sandeman in Gaia

It’s difficult not to spot the Sandeman Lodge when you are visiting Porto. It starts with attractive looking advertisements at the airport, and when you sit in Porto and you look over to Gaia you will see the big sign that shows you the location of the Lodge.

Having crossed the bridge and entered into Gaia, you will automatically have the desire to sit on the elegant terrace in front of the Sandeman building. Don’t ask me why, but for me the place has somehow an Italian flair. It’s a very cool place to sit down and to order the first Sandeman Port.

However, the main asset of Sandeman is the beautiful building from 1811. It’s a magnificent property.

The tours are available in 7 languages (Portuguese, English, German, French, Italian, Dutch, Spanish). Sandeman had the great idea in 1928 to invent the “Don” – the iconic figure with the hat and black cape. They have used this drawing for decades – and many people in the world recognize this symbol, even if they don’t know anything about Port. The name Sandeman, the beautiful property and the central location of the Lodge make this one of the most visited wine cellars on this planet. Which means that there many other tourists visiting together with you – and the groups are around 20-25 people. Still, whenever somebody has a question or a discussion starts, the well-informed tour-guides are happy to answer or comment until the last curious visitor has all the information that he/she needs.

A video is shown, that provides information about Port Wine, the Douro and the company of Sandeman.

What distinguishes this Lodges from others is exactly the already mentioned “Don” – the tour-guides are also dressed with a black cape and hat. While this looks funny when you see it the first time, after a few steps into the Lodge with all the old stone-walls and wooden barrels, the outfit starts to blend perfectly in with the mysterious, nearly romantic mood of the dimly lit cellar. Children are of course sometimes confused why Zorro decided to be their tour-guide…

The tour takes around 30 minutes, and afterwards you have the tasting of Port.

Which Ports you are tasting, depends on the tour that you have chosen:

1) Classic Tour – EUR 6.00: You get a White Port and a Founder’s Reserve Port – ideal for beginners, not-really satisfying for Port-Nerds…

2) 1790 Tour – EUR 16.00: 1790 is the year that Sandeman was founded – so the company was celebrating last year 225 years of existence. That year gives also it’s name to a much better tasting: The White Port and Founder’s Reserve from the Classic Tour, but on top also an Imperial Reserve (a Tawny), a 10 Year Old Tawny and a Single Quinta Vintage from Quinta do Vau. The tasting takes place in a special part of the property and is not so crowded as the tasting of the Classic Tour.

3) Old Tawnies Tour – EUR 35.00: This tour ends with the tasting of the 4 Tawnies with an indication of age (10, 20, 30 and 40 Year old Tawnies). It’s a great way to see what 10 years of added time in a barrel do to the color, aroma and texture of Port Wine.

Please also have a look at the beautiful collection of old Port Wine bottles. Amazing, that these bottles survived so many centuries…