Port ProDuCers anD shiPPers 237in the 1980s, Taylor’s created a new associate company, adopting the name Skeffington for
the purpose. Since the suspension of bulk shipments in 1996, Skeffington has increasingly
become a brand in its own right, with a full range of Ports from a fruity ruby through to a
good but relatively early-maturing vintage.
smith Woodhouse
c/o Symington Family Estates
travessa Barão de Forrester, 86, apartado 26, 4431–901 Vila nova de Gaia
tel: (351) 223 776 300
http://www.symington.com
Sometimes considered to be a second-string shipper, Smith Woodhouse is an old-established
company producing Ports that can compete with the best. The company was founded in
1784 by Christopher Smith, a British Member of Parliament who went on to become Lord
Mayor of London. His sons were joined by the Woodhouse brothers in 1818 and the firm
acquired its present-day name. In the late nineteenth century, Smith Woodhouse vintage
Port gained a high reputation, with Professor Saintsbury claiming in Notes on a Cellar Book
that ‘I have never had a better ’87 than some Smith Woodhouse...’. The brand was taken
over by Louis Gordon & Sons Ltd of London in 1956 and the wines were shipped by W. &
J. Graham. When Graham was sold to the Symington family in 1970, Smith Woodhouse
became part of the group.
The company has a small vineyard, Quinta da Madelena, in the Rio Torto, although
most Smith Woodhouse wines are an exercise in blending. Much of the company’s
production is standard tawny destined to be sold as own-label Port. This is not to denigrate
the wines sold under the Smith Woodhouse label, for the fact is that these Ports are good,
and sometimes extremely good. Through the 1970s, 80s and 90s, Smith Woodhouse
vintage Ports have been on consistent form, perhaps midway between Dow and Graham
in style, combining sweetness and muscular strength if a little one-dimensional compared
to their bigger and better-known brethren. The 1977 Smith Woodhouse is particularly
good with plenty of life remaining when many wines from this rather over-rated vintage
are on a downhill path. Without the cachet of some of the big names, Smith Woodhouse
Ports are frequently good value, making them wines to drink rather than collect.
Smith Woodhouse was one of the first shippers to produce unfiltered LBV. Unlike
many of the more recent so-called ‘traditional’ LBVs, the wine is not released until it has
been aged in bottle for six to ten years. The result is a poor man’s vintage Port.
taylor
Taylor, Fladgate & Yeatman SA
Rua do choupelo, 250, 4400–088 Vila nova de Gaia
tel. (351) 223 742 800
http://www.taylor.pt
Taylor has built up the reputation as a ‘first growth’ among Port shippers and is now the
leading house in the Fladgate Partnership alongside Fonseca and Croft. Partners have come