Madeira Leacock's Full Rich Fortificado

Descrição

John Leacock sailed to Madeira from the United Kingdom after his father died in 1741, and at the age of 15 became the youngest apprentice at the Madeira trading firm Catanach and Murdoch, remaining under contract until it expired on 11 March 1749. During his apprenticeship he kept in constant contact with an old friend, John Patient, who at the time lived in Charleston, South Carolina, and suggested that they start trading themselves. Leacock agreed, marking the birth of the now world‑famous company. In 1925 the wine industry was going through difficult times, so both Leacock’s and Blandy’s merged their interests and joined the Madeira Wine Association, now the Madeira Wine Company. Leacock’s is today one of the company’s main brands, with key markets including the United States of America, the Scandinavian countries, and the United Kingdom. The Madeira Wine Company originally was an association of several Madeira wine producers who decided to unite to strengthen their buying and wine‑production capabilities. The association was founded in 1913. During the years of discord, the family businesses of Blandy’s and Leacock joined, followed immediately by Miles and Cossart Gordon, creating the largest producer and exporter of Madeira wine. Whatever its 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—what it had become—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, allowing the Madeira Wine Company to play a leading role in developing the Madeira wine trade. The bottling year may not match the image shown. (Illustrative image only)