About Us
I’ve been passionate about port for a long time! As a teenager I remember the after dinner sniff of the port glass and thinking the rich, fruity and spicy smell was delicious and there was no turning back from that point. I’ve enjoyed drinking most vintages declared since the mid 70’s and have made numerous trips to Porto. One of the main reasons for putting this site together was to present an independent view of Vintage Port. The Vintage Port business has consolidated significantly over the past 20 years and now the top internationally recognised brands of Vintage Port are owned by a handful of companies (see Vintage Port Producers). This extends to web sites about port where although portrayed as independent, are actually tied to one of the brand holders, and are anything but independent.
The reasons for this consolidation are varied. In some cases it’s a US or French major brand owner dipping their toe into Port. In others it’s a market grab. In the case of the second tier brands it’s about coming together to survive. And for some brands consolidation has been a rescue. But thankfully some producers remain as single brand family run businesses. As you might expect, it's these businesses that struggle for even the smallest penetration in overseas markets. The major brand owners have dominated for many years: The Symington Family for example has 33% market share of the premium ports. Combine that with the Fladgate brands, Sogrape, Sogevinus and Fortune; if you’re a small player you’re really up against it. That’s what this site is about – getting onto the radar some better visibility of the smaller brands. They produce excellent Vintage Port and are well worth taking a look at. Let me know via our contact page if you have any good ideas for the website or would like to be mentioned.
Vintageport.biz and Passionate About Port are brand names owned by Technical ADR Ltd, a company registered in England and Wales. My main business is engineering and technology expert witness services, please make contact for further info.