Aperitivo Madeira Miles (Gargalo Empalhado) Fortificado

Description

The company that would later become Miles Madeira was originally known as Rutherford & Brown, founded on the island of Madeira in 1814. In 1856, Henry Price Miles left England with his family and arrived on Madeira. Having worked as an apprentice from the age of twelve under the tutelage of James Rutherford, he gained solid knowledge and experience of the Madeiran trade. In 1872 the Rutherfords moved to London (as Phylloxera was decimating most of Madeira’s vineyards) and started a wine‑import business at Old Trinity House on Water Lane. This prompted Miles to purchase the company and its shares, and later he made a gentleman’s agreement with Rutherford that any Madeira sold by them in the UK, Scandinavia, or Russia would be bought through HPMiles and Co. The Madeira Wine Company was originally an association of several Madeiran wine‑producing firms that decided to unite to strengthen their purchasing and production capabilities. This association was founded in 1913. During years of discord, the old family businesses of Blandy’s and Leacock joined, followed immediately after by a dispute involving Miles and Cossart Gordon, creating the largest producer and exporter of Madeiran wine. Regardless of size, maintaining the unique characteristics and style of each individual company was central to the association’s focus. By the late 1970s, the interests in the Madeira Wine Company – as it had come to be known – had narrowed to just a handful of the original families, with the Blandy family holding the controlling share. In 1989, the Blandy family, needing to strengthen the sales and marketing side of the business, invited the Symington family from Porto, Portugal, to partner with them. This partnership has continued to the present day, allowing the Madeira Wine Company to play a leading role in the development of the Madeiran wine trade. (Illustrative image only)