The Blandys of Madeira

Best known as the leading producers of Madeira wine, the Blandy firm is very much more than that, and the story of its growth and development over 200 years is a remarkable one. Founded on a remote Portugese island in the Atlantic in the last years of the Napoleonic War the company has never ceased to trade in the unique wine for which Madeira is so famous, but not many companies, after 200 years, are still owned and run by the same family, and the portfolio of businesses owned, developed and run by the family over the years includes many of the central concerns of the period - from coal and shipping to newspapers and hotels. Marcus Binney tells the remarkable story of this survival and growth with verve and insight. It is not a colonial adventure, for Madeira has always been Portugese (and with a fluctuating and often challenging political environment). And it has not been without its problems and mistakes. But in the end it is a remarkable account of how a remarkable family adapted their business and their expectations of it, to survive and flourish into the 21st century, and along the way to construct and conserve some impressive buildings and, especially, to develop and maintain an iconic and world famous product in one of the world's great wines.