208 Port anD the Douro
Burmester still scores highly with its supremely good old tawnies and colheitas.
Burmester’s ten-year-old is delicate but rich, while its twenty-year-old is soft, high-toned
and beautifully balanced. The company also maintains outstanding old colheitas dating
back to 1890 and 1900, both bottled in 1977. In 1998 it was able to present an intriguing
vertical tasting covering a century of its colheita Ports. Gilberts, a subsidiary company
named after Karl Gilbert, belonged to Burmester before being brought by Sogevinus.
Butler nephew
The company was founded by Nash of Burmester Nash & Co. (see above), who took James
Butler into partnership in 1789. He in turn was joined by his nephew, Robert Butler, and
the name of the firm became Butler Nephew. The firm had a good reputation before the
Second World War. It has since been consigned to relative obscurity, first by Gonzalez
Byass and subsequently by Vasconcelos. Butler Nephew was disbanded in 1989.
cálem
Sogevinus Fine Wines SA
av. diogo Leite 344, 26-42, 4400-111, Vila nova de Gaia
tel. (351) 223 746 660
http://www.calem.pt
Cálem was a family-owned company, founded in 1859, which grew into one of Portugal’s
leading brands. In 1998 it made history by becoming the first shipper in Gaia to be
bought out by a company based in the Douro. This reversal was short lived, as in 2003
Cálem was bought out by the Galician bank the Caixa Nova, and now forms part of
Sogevinus along with Barros, Burmester and Kopke.
The company has been separated from Quinta da Foz, the property that formed the
backbone of Cálem’s vintage Ports for over a century as well as their more recent SQVPs.
At the confluence of the Pinhão River with the Douro, Quinta da Foz remained with the
Cálem family until it was sold in 2012. The vinification centre at São Martinho d’Anta
near Sabrosa and Quinta do Pego were retained as part of the company. In 2004 Cálem
bought the A-grade Quinta do Arnozelo in the Douro Superior.
Cálem produced superb vintage Ports in 1966 and 1970 but subsequent wines have
been very inconsistent. Three vintages (1985, 1990 and 1991) were sensibly withdrawn
from the market. Aged tawnies and colheitas dating back to 1957 (the latter bottled to
order) look much better. The company’s main brand is Velhotes, a standard tawny which
is brand leader on the home market. The company’s stocks are split between four separate
lodges in Vila Nova de Gaia. Their main lodge is located by the lower tier of the Ponte
Dom Luíz and receives over 100,000 visitors a year.