In 1990 Bruce Guimaraens' son David joined Taylor’s wine making team after graduating in oenology from Roseworthy Agricultural College in Australia. He brought with him fresh ideas gained from wine making experience in Australia, California and Oregon. The 1994 was the first Taylor declared vintage made under his supervision, another highly acclaimed 100-point wine.

The year of 1994 also saw the continuity of family management assured for a further generation with the arrival in Portugal of Adrian Bridge and his wife Natasha, Alistair and Gillyane Robertson’s eldest daughter. Adrian brought with him extensive international business experience as well as leadership skills which would be vital in preparing the firm for the challenges of the 21st century. After winning the Sword of Honour at the Royal Military Academy Sandhurst, he had spent six years as an officer in the Queen’s Dragoon Guards followed by a further six in London running the US equity sales team for NatWest Investment Bank. On his arrival in Portugal he assumed responsibility for Port sales in Britain and the USA, overseeing strong growth in both of these key markets.

In 2000 Adrian was formally appointed Managing Director and set about ensuring that the company was able to adapt successfully to the accelerating pace of change both in the Port trade and the wider global wine market. It was vital to ensure that the business achieved the right balance between specialisation in the finest quality Port wine and a scale which would allow it to thrive in an increasingly competitive environment, where rapid consolidation was occurring in both production and the trade.

In 1949 Dick and Stanley Yeatman had bought the distinguished firm of Fonseca. As the well known wine critic James Suckling once wrote, the two shippers represented ‘the Rolls Royce and the Bentley’ of Vintage Port. However in order to guarantee its future, the business needed to grow. In 2001 Adrian negotiated the purchase of the Port wine assets of the Diageo group which added the four hundred year old house of Croft to the stable. As a result of this acquisition the group was renamed The Fladgate Partnership, a reference to the Fladgate family’s historical links to all three firms, Taylor, Fonseca and Croft. While retaining its traditions and individuality, each of the three houses now became part of one of the most important and respected groups in the Port wine trade. Further strategic acquisitions over the following years consolidated the group’s position as the leading producer of quality Port.

Under Adrian’s leadership decisive advances have been made in other areas. In the Douro Valley, the investments in top quality vineyards have continued. This includes the renovation and replanting of Quinta do Junco purchased by Taylor’s in 1998. São Xisto, the 44 hectare property adjoining Quinta de Vargellas incorporated into the estate in 1999, has been developed as a model vineyard using the latest vertical planting techniques. Several plots both at Quinta de Vargellas and Quinta de Terra Feita have been converted to a new environmentally sustainable planting system developed by the firm’s respected head of viticulture António Magalhães and technical director David Guimaraens. At Vargellas, methods have been developed for the more efficient management of the old historic walled terraces allowing them to be preserved for the future.

There has also been significant progress in the area of winemaking. Traditional foot treading continues to be used to make the wines from Taylor’s own estates. However a method needed to be developed that would replicate the benefits of treading on a larger scale and allow them to be extended to the production of the firm’s grape suppliers. In the research and development winery at Vargellas, David Guimaraens and his team, assisted by consultants from the Universidade Católica, developed new prototype fermentation tanks fitted with a system of piston-driven plungers familiarly known as ‘Port toes’. Working asymmetrically, these plungers provide the same constant but gentle skin contact achieved in the lagares by the pickers’ feet. The new fermenting tanks were installed at the new winery at Quinta da Nogueira and were first used at the 2001 harvest. Also at Nogueira a new wine ageing facility has been built, equipped with air humidifiers to create the same cool and damp environment that would formerly have been found only in the lodges in Oporto.

Taylor’s ageing and bottling operations in Vila Nova de Gaia have also benefited from sustained investment, including technical improvements and new equipment. Reserves of wood aged wines have continued to be built up ensuring that Taylor’s is uniquely positioned to satisfy the growing demand for aged tawny Ports. Adrian’s wife Natasha, who studied at the University of California at Davis, the USA’s leading centre of oenological teaching and research, is responsible for managing and blending these extensive stocks as Chief Blender. 

Meanwhile, Taylor’s has continued to develop its traditional markets while responding to new demand from consumers in Latin America, Eastern Europe, Asia and Africa. Huyshe Bower’s work of developing Taylor’s international distribution was continued by Nick Heath, Taylor’s marketing director who had joined the company in 1986. With a wine making background, he represents the fifth generation of his family to be involved in the Port trade. In 2001, the sales team was joined by Huyshe Bower’s son, Robert, whose mission was to develop Taylor’s sales in the US market.

Alongside the Port business, Adrian also spearheaded the construction of The Yeatman, a luxury wine hotel located a few steps from Taylor’s lodges in Vila Nova de Gaia. This important investment, although managed independently from the Port business, provides an important platform for the promotion of Port wine through the increasingly important channel of wine tourism.

Now well into its fourth century and with family succession guaranteed, Taylor’s can face the future with optimism. Over the decades, the continuity of purpose which is the fundamental characteristic of any great wine producer has been maintained. From the Bearsleys in the early years to the current generation of family owners, the firm has remained dedicated to its one overriding aim.

To make and sell the very finest Port.