1954 Madeira Cossart Gordon Sercial Fortificado

Description

Cossart Gordon & Co. was founded in 1745 and is the oldest company in the Madeira wine trade. Francis Newton, a young Scotsman who set sail from Gravesend, England, arrived in Madeira on 12 September 1745 and established the firm. His younger brother Thomas joined from 1758 to 1763, followed by another Scot, Thomas Gordon of Balmaghie, also in 1758. The Cossart family has been among the island’s most influential for nearly two centuries. The definitive book on Madeira, *Madeira The Island Vineyard*, was written by Noël Cossart, a former senior partner of the firm born on the island in 1907. To this day, Cossart Gordon Madeiras is considered the finest available. The Madeira Wine Company originally began as an association of several Madeira wine producers who joined forces to strengthen their purchasing and production capabilities. This association was founded in 1913. During a period of discord, the longstanding family firms Blandy’s and Leacock merged, followed shortly by the dispute over Miles and Cossart Gordon, creating the largest producer and exporter of Madeira wine. Regardless of size, preserving the unique characteristics and style of each individual company remained the association’s focus. By the late 1970s, the interests in the Madeira Wine Company—as it had become known—had been reduced to a handful of the original families, with the Blandy family holding the controlling stake. In 1989, the Blandy family, needing to strengthen the business’s sales and marketing, invited the Symington family from Porto, Portugal, to partner with them. This partnership has continued to the present day, enabling the Madeira Wine Company to play a leading role in the development of the Madeira wine trade. The bottling year may not match the image shown (illustrative only).