Madeira Cossart Gordon Sercial Fortificado

Description

Cossart Gordon & Co. was founded in 1745 and is the oldest company in the Madeiran wine trade. Francis Newton, a young Scot, set sail from Gravesend in Britain and arrived in Madeira on 12 September 1745, founding the company. 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 most influential on the island for almost two centuries. The most authoritative book on Madeira, *Madeira: The Island Vineyard*, was written by Noël Cossart, a senior former 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 decided to combine forces to strengthen their purchasing and production capabilities. This association was founded in 1913. During the years of discord, the old family companies of Blandy's and Leacock joined, followed immediately by a dispute involving Miles and Cossart Gordon, creating the largest producer and exporter of Madeira wine. Whatever the size, maintaining the unique characteristics and style of each individual company remained at the heart of the association’s focus. By the late 1970s, the interests in the Madeira Wine Company, as it came to be known, had been reduced to just a handful of the original families, with the Blandy family holding the controlling share. In 1989, the Blandy family, needing to bolster the sales and marketing side of the business, invited the Symington family from Porto, Portugal, to join them in partnership. This partnership has continued to the present day, allowing the Madeira Wine Company to play a leadership role in the development of the Madeiran wine trade. The year of bottling may not match the image presented. (Illustrative image only)