History of the Madeira Wine Company

The Madeira Wine Company, S.A. was originally an association of a number of Madeira wine producing companies, who decided to join forces in order to strengthen their purchasing and wine making abilities. This Association was founded in 1913. During the inter-war years the old family firms of Blandy’s and Leacock joined, followed immediately post war by Miles and Cossart Gordon, thereby creating the largest producer and exporter of Madeira wine. Whatever the size, the maintaining of the unique characteristics and style of each individual firm was at the chore of the association. By the late 1970’s the interests in the Madeira Wine Company as it became known, were reduced 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 Port shipping family from Oporto, Portugal to join them in partnership. 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.

In 2011 the Blandy and Symington family of Oporto signed an agreement that gave the Blandy family control of the Madeira Wine Company (MWC). Symington Family Estates will continue to be a shareholder in the MWC, although a minority one, and will continue to distribute Blandy’s Madeira and other MWC brands through their associated companies, John E Fells in the UK, Premium Port Wines in the US and Portfolio in Portugal.

Blandy’s Madeira is a 200 year old family owned business with a long tradition in fine wine making. John Blandy - the founder of Blandy’s Madeira – established himself on the island of Madeira in 1811 and the family has since then been directly involved in the production of Madeira Wine. In 1925 Blandy's decided to join the Madeira Wine Association; a group of wine companies formed together to maximize global exposure and minimize overheads in a world where the export market was experiencing an all time low. In 1989, in order to further expand the global market, the Blandy’s approached another Anglo-Portuguese family – the Symington’s of Oporto (Port producers for 4 generations and over 100 years) – and offered them a partnership with the purpose of strengthening the sales and marketing aspects of the business. The Symington’s joined in 1989 and since then the company has been jointly managed by the 2 families. In the later years, both the winemaker and company have been respectively awarded Fortified Winemaker of the Year (IWC) for 3 consecutive years (2006 – 2008) and Portuguese Producer of the Year (IWSC) for two years running (2009 – 2010).