POINTS OF DISTINCTIONOften described as the Rolls-Royce of the Porto industryKnown for inventing the late bottled vintage category, and still the category’s standard-bearerThe first Port firm to produce single-quinta vintage PortoMaintains exacting standards through continuous investments in vineyards and by aging extensive tawny stocksThe family became the first Porto shipper to purchase vineyards in the Douro Valley, in 1744.The only Porto company that has remained 100% family run throughout its historyTaylor Fladgate has earned a global reputation for producing wines of remarkable consistency and exceptional quality. It is known especially for its sought-after vintage Portos and venerable tawnies, and for pioneering the late bottled vintage style, a category it still dominates. Today Taylor Fladgate is proud to be the only Porto company that has remained 100% family run throughout its history.THE FOUNDING BEARSLEYSThe origins of Taylor, Fladgate & Yeatman lie in the 1670s, with Job Bearsley, an English merchant in Minho. Bearsley's initial activities were in the wool trade, and the 4XX logo, originally his woolmark, was branded on bales of wool, and later, casks of Port wine, for shipment. The firm was officially founded in 1692, and Bearsley moved his offices to Oporto; this date places Taylor, Fladgate & Yeatman as one of Oporto's oldest Port houses. Bearsley’s son Peter was the first Englishman, in the early 1700s, to venture into the primitive reaches of the Upper Douro to purchase wines. Another son, Bartholomew, acquired the first British-owned property in the Douro in 1744, the Lugar das Lages. Located at Salgueiral, close to the old town of Regua, and including the 18th-century Casa dos Alambiques, it is still among Taylor Fladgate's operative holdings.
