ADRIAN BRIDGE

[Glenn E.]

Hi Adrian,

When TFP purchased Wiese & Krohn you received some very old Tawny Ports in the purchase. One of these - the 1863 - has since been released. I was wondering if you have any plans (that you can talk about!) for 2 others that several people here at FTLOP have been lucky enough to taste - the 1896 white and 1896 tawny? Sadly I missed that FTLOP tour, so I was not one of the lucky few to have tasted all 3.

[GS Irving]

Dear Adrian,
Thank-you very much for this wonderful opportunity to ask you questions.

First question: Do you have a favorite Port outside of the Fladgate Partnership portfolio (my sincere apologies if this question is too sacrilegious!)? Or maybe to ask a different way, what’s one Port you wish your company could have made?

My second question: what are your favorite food and Port pairings?
I recently hosted a Port tasting (spreading the Gospel to my Ohio friends) and when the Tawnies were poured, the desserts were served. For my palate, the sweetness from the desserts were altering the way the Tawnies were tasting—and not in a good way. I went back to the cheese plate which was much more complementary to the Tawnies.

Thank-you for your time!
Warm regards,
Greg

[Rune EG]

Hi Adrian!
I have read your comments regarding Beneficio related to ports and Douro wines.
We are seeing that companies which started off as port companies, now have a significant share of their business in the Douro wines (such as Ramos Pinto and Niepoort).
In spite of your Beneficio-comments are you considering to produce Douro wines in the near future (or maybe with a longer view)?
If your answer is negative, it would be interesting to know why (business political decision, business economy decision, suitability of your wine yards and/or other reasons).

[Mario Ferreira]

Dear Adrian,

related to TOURISM: observing that Porto/Douro has been really getting a major increase of visitors during these recent years, I wonder whether tourists from ASIA and specifically from CHINA are making any significant impact on the Port Wine industry.

Moreover, I confess I'm also wondering whether QAVB has any strategy particularly aimed to the Chinese market for this upcoming 10-20 years period.

If you could share any insights, that would be great.  

Thanks in advance.

Rgds
> Mário Ferreira - FTLOP.

[Al B.]

Dear Adrian

One last question from me concerns the history of the names of the Port Shippers. The Fladgate Partnership has some high profile names in their portfolio — Taylor, Fonseca, Krohn and Croft, and we see Skeffington from time to time in the UK.

I know at one time the Morgan Brothers label was (still is?) owned by TFP and Delaforce was sold a few years to Royal Oporto.

Would you be able to share with us which other shippers are currently “dormant” members of the Fladgate Partnership please?

Many thanks

Alex

[Adrian Bridge]

Dear Adrian,

I know you are quite active in regards to climate change issues but I am not sure most readers are aware how much TFP has done. Can you tell us what things your company (bottling facilities, Quinta's, etc) has done already to become more "Green"? Such as solar, water recycling/treatment, etc. What green projects are you currently looking at or considering for the future for these properties?

Dear Andy

Yes we have been active for years and our 'sustainable viticulture model' for the Douro won an important Biodiversity Award in 2008.

Vineyards - the sustainable approach eliminates the use of herbicides and pesticides which is good for the environment and reduces the run off into the 'Douro lakes' (used to be the Douro river until it was dammed. But good layout of vineyard is important to avoid soil erosion and our instruction of lazer guided earth movers (think big spirit level) 20 years ago has help us and has been widely adopted. The river is better for this.

Solar - we are about 76% self producing at the Port business and by end of 2020 we will be over 100%. We use this for electricity (photovoltaic) and water heating (solar panels). This is widely adopted across Port and hotels.

Water - the biggest issue we have. From simple 'pistol grips' on the end of hoses to avoid an unattended hose running water down the drain, to recycling to rethinking process. Over the last 10 years we have replaced our stainless steel tubes for wine transport around our facilities for tubes which are narrower. This massively reduces the water (and other products) needed to rinse and clean these tubes. The feed to the bottling line is washed through at least once or twice a day so you can imaging the water usage.
Cleaning in Place systems (CIP) on our filling equipment has reduced water usage 70%, energy 75% and detergents by over 80%. Simple systems, with paybacks over 10 years so not affordable for everyone, but having a big difference.

Energy - rethinking the business process to reduce peak energy load on the system is also critical. It reduces usage and with that cost.

Recycling - of all materials in the business, some small some big.

Carbon footprint - we have been looking at this for years and we have reduced the footprint to 2.7KgCo2 for liter of LBV (our reference). This is a reduction of about a 1/3rd. The difficulty of the count is always related to the yield on a property as a big harvest will distort just as the work is the same even if you have low yields. This is work in progress. We can reduce bottle weights, packaging and other items but we are still selling a luxury product that is a discretionary purchase. Equally, to reduce further the carbon footprint for Port we have to work with the distillers of the wine spirit we use for fortification as this is the biggest single contributor now.

There is plenty more. I was recently at a seminar where the lady gave here mantra (https://zerowastehome.com/) of Refuse, Reduce, Reuse, Recycle and Rot in that order. Very interesting and the order of it makes me think about what more we can do.

I would say that we are doing all the easy things and trying to do the harder ones too. We are investing in this is a number of ways (we are about to do a tree replanting program) but we need ideas of what is working for others.

That it the thought behind The Porto Protocol (https://www.portoprotocol.com/) which is about committing to do more and to share what is working. This is a not-for-profit foundation that is trying to lead the way for wine companies and we are pleased to see the support and the sharing that is happening.

We are all part of the problem just as we are all part of the solution.

Best wishes, Adrian

[Adrian Bridge]

Hi Adrian,

When TFP purchased Wiese & Krohn you received some very old Tawny Ports in the purchase. One of these - the 1863 - has since been released. I was wondering if you have any plans (that you can talk about!) for 2 others that several people here at FTLOP have been lucky enough to taste - the 1896 white and 1896 tawny? Sadly I missed that FTLOP tour, so I was not one of the lucky few to have tasted all 3.

Dear Glenn

The logical moment for the 1896 is probable 2021 when it will be 125 years old. Watch this space

Adrian

[Adrian Bridge]

Dear Adrian

One last question from me concerns the history of the names of the Port Shippers. The Fladgate Partnership has some high profile names in their portfolio — Taylor, Fonseca, Krohn and Croft, and we see Skeffington from time to time in the UK.

I know at one time the Morgan Brothers label was (still is?) owned by TFP and Delaforce was sold a few years to Royal Oporto.

Would you be able to share with us which other shippers are currently “dormant” members of the Fladgate Partnership please?

Many thanks

Alex

Dear Alex

We did buy Delaforce from Diageo when we purchased Croft - Morgan did not come with the deal. Delaforce was sold in 2007.

Romariz is a brand as is Monteiro (founding family of Fonseca). Both are used.

In September 2019 we bought Pitters Port. That company was founded in 1920 so you can expect to see more of Pitters in 2020 as it celebrates 100 years and a new owner.

Best wishes
Adrian

[Adrian Bridge]

Dear Adrian,

related to TOURISM: observing that Porto/Douro has been really getting a major increase of visitors during these recent years, I wonder whether tourists from ASIA and specifically from CHINA are making any significant impact on the Port Wine industry.

Moreover, I confess I'm also wondering whether QAVB has any strategy particularly aimed to the Chinese market for this upcoming 10-20 years period.

If you could share any insights, that would be great.  

Thanks in advance.

Rgds
> Mário Ferreira - FTLOP.

Dear Mario

Thanks for the question. Clearly China is of importance to any brand, particularly a luxury one. There are 480 million millennials in China so it is a vast market with money.

There are two keys. One is education because many people are still discovering wine and need to understand the different types and different consumption moments. The more work done by still wine producers then it is probably easier for Port producers to come along and explain the delights of this niche drink category. We educate and we have run for many years a program alongside the Symington Family called the Vintage Port Academy - we train collectors, sommeliers and so on. However, this probably needs to be a full time process rather than a few times a year.

The second is having them come to Portugal and discover Port and our beautiful city (and eventually the Douro valley). In this regard I believe that The World of Wine will be a key driver in opening the Chinese/Asian markets. By creating a 'must see' grouping of cultural experiences, many related to wine, I think we can encourage people to come. Once here it is our job to show and to educate. For this we need to focus on educating the hotels and restaurants in Portugal where visitors might encounter Port. If we can have it correctly presented in HORECA, rather than as a simply generic product, then we will have a chance. To really do this we need to try to have the Portuguese people become proud of this extraordinary and unique wine and become champions of it.

I hope our recent opening of a space in Lisbon helps in this regards. The Taylor's Visitors' Center in Lisbon will grow and is set to become a tourism anchor in the Alfama district. For those who do not know it google Palacete Chafariz D'El Rei. The Palacete we bought 12 months ago and the two floors behind the fountain(Chafariz) will tell the story of Port and Taylor's. It happens to also be on/in the historic wall of Lisbon.

Best wishes
Adrian

[Adrian Bridge]

Hi Adrian!
I have read your comments regarding Beneficio related to ports and Douro wines.
We are seeing that companies which started off as port companies, now have a significant share of their business in the Douro wines (such as Ramos Pinto and Niepoort).
In spite of your Beneficio-comments are you considering to produce Douro wines in the near future (or maybe with a longer view)?
If your answer is negative, it would be interesting to know why (business political decision, business economy decision, suitability of your wine yards and/or other reasons).

Dear Rune

Douro table wines are good and the potential of the valley enormous. However, we are not reaching that potential because of the Beneficio system.

We focus on quality Port and we are one of the biggest players at that end of the market. We need all the grapes we can get from our farmers to make our Ports. We have no 'spare' grapes to make into table wine.

Others have moved into this area. Large companies who used to have large commodity Port businesses have lost Port volume and replaced it with table wine. Some smaller houses have sought to make table wine a major part of their business as they have differentiated themselves from so of the bigger Port companies.

I am not going to say that we would never enter the market. I think we will at some stage but we have no plans. I suspect that if grape prices rise for table wine to be equal to the cost of growing the grapes - either the subsidy declines further as Port volumes decline or climate change (2018) or through sector reform - I think there will be a shake out. That might be a moment for us to enter. I am keeping my mind open. However, for the moment we are focussed on quality Port in our main business and through our tourism and distribution companies we are a major promoter of Douro table wines. For those who do not know we are the agents of Quinta do Crasto in Portugal and have been for over a decade.

The final point I would make is that the average Douro farmer is having a tough time making money and a generational chance is happening in the Douro. With so much in play we are not sure what the landscape will look like in 5 years.

Kind regards

Adrian

[Adrian Bridge]

Dear Adrian,
Thank-you very much for this wonderful opportunity to ask you questions.

First question: Do you have a favorite Port outside of the Fladgate Partnership portfolio (my sincere apologies if this question is too sacrilegious!)? Or maybe to ask a different way, what’s one Port you wish your company could have made?

My second question: what are your favorite food and Port pairings?
I recently hosted a Port tasting (spreading the Gospel to my Ohio friends) and when the Tawnies were poured, the desserts were served. For my palate, the sweetness from the desserts were altering the way the Tawnies were tasting—and not in a good way. I went back to the cheese plate which was much more complementary to the Tawnies.

Thank-you for your time!
Warm regards,
Greg

Dear Greg

I enjoy many Ports and I do get to taste other companies' wines when we do our monthly competitor blind tastings.

At The Factory House I get to taste a wide range of fine vintages from other houses.

I guess being in the industry, with a largish portfolio of brands, I drink Port almost everyday so it does not leave much time to drink other offerings.

I do think that Aged Tawny goes very well with cheese. I probably drink more 20 year old than any other Aged Tawny and I like it with creamy cheeses, goats cheese etc. However, I admit to having a sweet tooth so I do like 10 year old with Tarte Tartin, or 20 year with Crème Brulée.

I remember being in the USA doing the 1997 launch and at a press lunch we were served the young vintage alongside a salted rump steak. It was delicious and I have tried young vintage with meat often - a slow cooked lamb shank with LBV works well.

The great thing amount Port is there are lots of styles and no reason not to try lots of combinations. I am always delighted when I eat at our 2 star Michelin they way that the Chef, Ricardo Costa, can make so many new flavour pairings.

Best wishes, Adrian

[Mike J. W.]

Adrian,

Thank you for taking the time to answer so many questions. Of course you have a demanding day job, and a personal life so devoting so much time answering our questions is appreciated.

I'm somewhat new to being serious about Port although I remember years ago having the odd glass of Port from time to time when I was at a restaurant. My question is in regards to how you decide which grapes go to which of your various Ports? Put another way, Taylor's and Fonseca are certainly your top vintage Ports, but why don't Croft or Skeffington hit the same consistent heights? Is it a difference in grapes, the style you're going for or something else?

[Adrian Bridge]

Adrian,

Thank you for taking the time to answer so many questions. Of course you have a demanding day job, and a personal life so devoting so much time answering our questions is appreciated.

I'm somewhat new to being serious about Port although I remember years ago having the odd glass of Port from time to time when I was at a restaurant. My question is in regards to how you decide which grapes go to which of your various Ports? Put another way, Taylor's and Fonseca are certainly your top vintage Ports, but why don't Croft or Skeffington hit the same consistent heights? Is it a difference in grapes, the style you're going for or something else?

Dear Mike

Thanks for the question. We have different quintas for different brands and our Vintage Ports come only from our quintas.

Taylor's has the largest vineyard holding so it has the most to chose from when it comes to making a Vintage Port. Fonseca and Croft have about the same size holdings but Fonseca's are spread over three properties so this does give a broader selection than Croft which draws from Roeda. Roeda is big (130 Ha) and has lots of old vines. We have been running that vineyard since the end of 2001 so that plantings we did in the first decade of this century are now coming into top production. You can expect Croft to get better every year.

With Skeffington we tend to use the grapes from Eira Velha and Casa Nova which are not linked to a single brand or we chose lots from the other properties that have not gone into their blends - Skeffington does not have a dedicated vineyard.

I think that Croft has been hitting the heights of Taylor and Fonseca for several declarations but when you have a number of brands coming from the same house commentators want to rank them. I think that Croft loses out in this process. However, I do understand why people take that approach.

Best wishes

Adrian

[Mont P Stern MD]

Adrian:

Great meeting you on Roy's tour. On the visit I first heard of Croft Serikos and purchased a bottle that day. For years, vintage Port was the crown jewel of each house. Do you see a trend toward each house creating a special cuvee of vintage Port such as the Croft Serikos and Graham Stone Terraces?

[Adrian Bridge]

Adrian:

Great meeting you on Roy's tour. On the visit I first heard of Croft Serikos and purchased a bottle that day. For years, vintage Port was the crown jewel of each house. Do you see a trend toward each house creating a special cuvee of vintage Port such as the Croft Serikos and Graham Stone Terraces?

Dear Mont

It is clear that some houses have had these blends for some time and each are produced to represent a story that enhances the brand. The list below gives key wines in the order that they appeared on the market and may not be complete.

Noval National is from ungrafted vines
Vargellas Vinha Velha is from old vines in the property
Vesuvio Capela is from a specific parcel of old vines by the chapel
Graham's Stone Terraces is from a recently planted specific block
Croft's Serikos is from planting done immediately after Phylloxera (so old vines)

Each is telling a story and they are all limited production that express the style of the house or property. The limited production means that they are all aimed at a smaller audience of collectors/consumers who are prepared to pay for rarity.

The question about how many more companies start to produce is probably a function of demand for such bottlings and, for Vintage Port in general.

I do not think that these special bottlings are trying to take the place of the main Vintage of a property or house but rather to offer a different expression to a limited audience. Thus I do not see them undermining the positioning of the main offerings.

Kind regards, Adrian

[Roy Hersh]

Dear Adrian,

This has been an absolutely brilliant week, a ton of fun for all and we hope you enjoyed it too!

To dedicate your time and wisdom to the participants and readers of our Forum community, just a few short weeks prior to the holidays, is greatly appreciated. Such excellent and diverse questions from a large group of users provided an opPORTunity for you to help us better understand the wide world of Port. Sharing your quarter century of experience and wisdom gained while working in the Port trade is not only commendable, but you have given the Port enthusiast a chance to have direct access to one of the key individuals and the CEO of a Port company, which has been around for 3.25 centuries. 

At nearly the close of the second decade of the 21st century, your responses will be archived and read for many years to come, by tens of thousands of individuals, brought here by their love of Port wine.

Your presence has been enlightening and we wish you and your family a Merry Christmas and healthy New Year. Thank you again!  



And thanks from the six of our FTLOP team members, (Mario, Glenn, Andy, David, Stewart and Roy): to all that came to read here this week; but especially to everyone that went out of their way to participate by asking excellent questions, too!