Port ProDuCers anD shiPPers 205shipments, but five groups now dominate the trade. Symington Family Estates (with
Cockburn, Dow, Graham, Warre among other brands under their belt) are the largest
shippers and the largest landowners in the Douro. Porto Cruz, a French-owned company
that came from nowhere in the 1970s, are a close second and have by far the largest
single brand, Gran Cruz. They are followed in third place by Sogrape (Sandeman, Offley,
Ferreira), controlled by the Guedes family. The Fladgate Partnership, with some of the
best-known premium brands – Croft, Fonseca and Taylor – are in fourth place. They
also control the Port house of Romariz and own a small share of Messias. A relatively
new Spanish-owned group, Sogevinus, who own Burmester, Barros, Cálem, Gilberts and
Kopke, comes in fifth place. Between them, these five groups account for nearly 80 per
cent of sales by volume. As ever, the Port trade is a cultural melting pot with well-known
Portuguese and British companies working alongside firms of Danish, Dutch, French,
Norwegian and Spanish ownership and extraction.
At the time of writing, a total of ninety shippers are registered with the Instituto dos
Vinhos do Port e do Douro (IVDP), of which seventy-eight are exporters. The following
directory of Port producers and shippers is by no means exhaustive but includes all those
with a significant presence on export markets. A few of the names that follow are historic
but merit inclusion because their wines continue to be sold at auction. Shippers and
producers are listed in alphabetical order by brand name with the full company name,
address, telephone/fax numbers and website below.
andresen
J. H. Andresen Sucrs. Lda
Rua Felizardo de Lima, 74, apartado 1510, 4401-901 Vila nova de Gaia
tel. (351) 223 770 450
http://www.jhandresen.com
Jann Hinrich Andresen was born on the North Sea Island of Föhr, part of Denmark. At
the age of fourteen he left for Portugal and, five years later in 1845, established his own
Port shipping firm. His heirs continued to run the company until 1942 when, like many
shippers at the time, they were forced to sell. The company was acquired by Albino Pereira
dos Santos whose successors still run the firm. Álvaro van Zeller is the winemaker. The
company specialises in tawnies and sells mainly to France, Belgium, Germany, Holland and
Denmark. At the top of the range is ‘Royal Choice’ a soft, silky twenty-year-old. Andresen
only declared their first vintage Port in 1950 and now seem to be making up for lost time
with frequent declarations in the late 1990s and 2000s. LBVs, bottled unfiltered, have been
produced since 1992 and are more impressive than the vintage Ports which are relatively
light and early maturing. The company also maintains a small stock of excellent old white
Ports and colheitas dating back to an undrinkably concentrated 1900. Andresen own Quinta
das Aranhas (‘Spider’s Quinta’) with forty hectares of A-Grade vineyard near Tua. They have