Ferreira

Ferreira is the oldest surviving Port house in existence, founded in 1751 at a time when the trade was dominated almost entirely by British shippers. The name that transformed it was Dona Antonia Adelaide Ferreira, a nineteenth-century businesswoman who expanded the company's vineyard holdings across the Douro, fought to improve conditions for the valley's workers during the phylloxera crisis, and built a legacy that the Portuguese public have recently honoured by naming a new bridge in Porto after her.

The house is known for Tawny Port in particular, including aged Tawny bottlings named in her honour. Tawny of this quality is one of the more underrated pleasures in wine: gentle, nutty, amber-coloured, with roasted fruit and a long finish that rewards slightly chilled serving in warmer months.