Madeira Miles Sercial Velho Fortificado

Description

The company that would later become Miles Madeira was originally known as Rutherford & Brown, established on the island of Madeira in 1814. In 1856, Henry Price Miles left England with his family and arrived in Madeira. Having worked as an apprentice from the age of twelve under the tutelage of James Rutherford, he gained solid knowledge and experience in how the Madeira trade operated. In 1872 the Rutherfords moved to London (because Phylloxera was wiping out most of the vineyards in Madeira) and started a wine import business at Old Trinity House on Waterlane. This led Miles to buy the company and its shares, and later he made a gentleman’s agreement with Rutherford that any Madeira sold by them in the United Kingdom, Scandinavia or Russia would be purchased through HPMiles and Co. The Madeira Wine Company was originally an association of several Madeira wine producers who decided to join forces to strengthen their buying and production capabilities. The association was founded in 1913. During years of dispute, the old family firms of Blandy’s and Leacock joined, followed immediately by the contest between Miles and Cossart Gordon, thereby creating the largest producer and exporter of Madeira wine. Whatever its size, maintaining the unique character and style of each individual company was at the heart of the association’s focus. By the late 1970s, the interests in the Madeira Wine Company—by then the name it was known by—had been reduced to just a handful of the original families, with the Blandy family holding the controlling stake. 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, enabling the Madeira Wine Company to play a leading role in the development of the Madeira wine trade. The bottling year may not correspond to the image shown. (Illustrative image)