For The Love Of Port

Spot the difference... and no, I'm not talking about the difference of a 10 year old Tawny vs a LBV...

What's 7 years over the course of a couple hundred


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Well... 1815 seems to be the better answer. Fonseca writes on their own web-page: "The house of Fonseca traces its origins to the early nineteenth century. The first evidence of the firm trading in Port is an entry dated 8th April, 1815, in the ledgers of the Real Companhia Velha, the royal monopoly company. This records the purchase of 32 pipes of Port by the firm's founder, João dos Santos Fonseca. His first documented sale occurred on 14th September, 1815, followed in 1816 by his first overseas shipment."
But in 1822 Manoel Pedro Guimaraens bought the majority of the shares from Fonseca and from then on the company was known as Fonseca Guimaraens.

So it seems that you can say that Fonseca was established in 1815 and Fonseca Guimaraens in 1822... They launched the Crusted Port for the 200 year jubilee - so the obviously see themselves as Fonseca and therefore they should have 1815 on their bottles, I think...

One thing I've learned about the Port trade is the early history of many are very murky. Lots of companies were bought, sold, merged, traded, inherited, and some started with nothing to do with Port. As a result the accurate records behind them and their relation to the Port trade aren't always very clear. It seems every so often a company discovers it sold Port earlier than originally thought and the history books are revised.