The winery celebrated its 225th anniversary last year.
The motto of the London Stock Exchange, “MY WORD IS MY BOND”, permeated the way business was conducted in the City of London in the late 18th and early 19th centuries.
In 1790, George Sandeman was an ambitious and savvy young man who moved from Scotland to London, determined to make a fortune for himself in the wine trade. He took a £300 loan from his father and rented a wine vault in Swithin’s Lane in which to store his first batch of wines for shipping.
In the letter he wrote to his father urging him to send the money, Sandeman demonstrated he was already very much aware of the way business was conducted in the City of London, where deals were sealed on a gentleman’s word. He wrote: “the wines must be laid in then, if can’t be done sooner, on account of the Winter, and I need not observe that the credit of a man depends on his punctuality to a day”.
Demonstrating impeccable business conduct and knowledge of the trade not only helped him to make a fortune for himself in just a few years, but also to establish a reputation as a most respected business man whose advice others would seek.
It is not certain whether this first shipment was the renowned 1790 vintage, but what is known is that George Sandeman did bottle quite a few pipes of that extraordinary year’s extraordinary wine.
The business established by George Sandeman was acquired by the Sogrape Group in 2002. The figure of the Spanish caballero (nobleman) in a Portuguese cape refers simultaneously to the presence of the winery in both Port and Jerez. Its size is demonstrated by the fact that, on average, 18 bottles of Sandeman are sold every minute in nearly 75 different countries worldwide. In order to create consistent quality, in 1880 they were the first to distribute port which was bottled and labelled. Sandeman, similarly to Tio Pepe, is one of the oldest drinks brands in the world, with its brand being registered in 1877. The figure of the Don which appears on the bottles was first committed to paper almost one hundred years ago. Enough about history; let’s take a look at the six stories that speak for themselves.
I am especially fond of the seal on the bottle as well as the typography and the colours. I think that not only the designers but also the winery have really done a great job.
Concept & Design: VOLTA Studio
Print production: Forward
Packaging production: AÉME
Photography: Nuno Moreira
