3 bottles per lot
Details
THE PROPERTY OF CAPTAIN DAVID OGILVY FAIRLIE OF MYERS
MUCH TRAVELLED RARE OLD MADEIRA
Recently removed from the cellars of Myers Castle, Auchtermuchty, Fife, and now lying in Wiltshire
The following wines have an impeccable provenance. They are all from the famous Casa Torre Bella estate a Camara de Lobos in Madeira and were cellared at the Casa Torre Bella frasqueira in Funchal until shipped from Lisbon to Scotland via San Francisco.
All except the 1950 vintage Tinta Negra Mole were re-bottled and recorked in Funchal under Captain Fairlie's supervision in April 1987. The bottles tend to be of different shapes and sizes some being the traditional shape for madeira and others in slender Burgundy-style bottles. Each bottle has the Fairlie family crest impressed on the wax seal and bears two labels, an original TORRE BELLA label with Count Torre Bella's coat of arms and 'Madeira', the other a fully descriptive label especially printed for this sale.
According to Noël Cossart, in his authoritative book MADEIRA, the Island Vineyard (Christie's Wine Publications, 1984) 'the casa Torre Bella vineyards at Torre, Camara de Lobos, have produced more fine vintages than any other on the island, but the name will not be found on labels, except perhaps on the bottles of Russell Manners Gordon'--except that is, for the bottles in this sale.
Russell Manners Gordon, Webster Gordon's son, left the family firm in 1857 when he married Doña Filomena Gabriela Correia Brandão Henriques de Noronha, Viscountess Torre Bella in her own right. The king of Portugal offered Russell the title of Count Torre Bella on condition that he took Portuguese nationality, which he accepted, thus, with his wife's properties, becoming the largest landowner and vineyard proprietor on the island. The statutes of the partnership demanded that partners had to be of British nationality, so Russell had to retire from the family firm Cossart Gordon, but ensured that his name remained. Cossart Gordon, now part of the Madeira Wine Company, continues to absorb the products of the vineyards, which are still owned by the family.
'There is a very marked characteristic of all wines made by the Torre Bella family which seems to have been prevalent during four generations. The wines, which are mostly from the Camara de Lobos and Araco da Calheta vineyards, are full, rich, well-balanced wines with a very attractive acid finish. The vineyards are still producing fine modern vintages' (Cossart).
The Rorre Bella estate was inherited in 1974 by the two great granddaughters of Russell Manners Gordon, Mrs Ann Fairlie, the wife of the present owner and Mrs Susan Seldon. At this date the Casa Torre Bella owned 10.6 of the entire island of Madeira, and had 1,200 tenants farming 30,000 acres. Steps were taken to transfer Mrs. Fairlie's share of the considerable stock of old and rare madeiras to the United Kingdom but permission was not granted by the authorities until after she died, suddenly, in May 1986.
Even then the story does not end: the wines were shipped from Funchal to Felixstowe where the duty and Value Added Tax was paid. The consignment was then moved into another warehouse prior ro despatch by road to Scotland. In error they were loaded onto a container and shipped through the Panama Canal to San Francisco. They were returned by the same route and correctly delivered to Myres Castle in February 1988. So this madeira has, quite inadvertenty, followed an 18th century tradition, when madeira wines were shipped to the East and West Indies in the hold of merchant ships where they were said to improve and mellow due to the heat and motion of the vessels. Christie's catalogues of the second half of that century and of the earlier part of the 19th century frequently feature such much travelled madeiras.
Nor is it the first time that Christie's have sold famous old Torre Bella wines. The very considerable collection of Russell Manners Gordon, Count Torre Bella, was sold at Christie's on March 16th 1864. One of the bottles from this collection, a Cama de Lobos, vintage 1789, made in the year of the French revolution, was again sold at Christie's in London on September 29th 1977 for (175. This wine is known at Messrs. Cossart Gordon a 'Old Gordons's Madeira'.
Verdelho--Vintage 1877
Camara de Lobos, Torre
Rewaxed damaged capsules. Bin-soiled and damaged labels. Lot 115 one with Christie's slip-label. Levels into neck. Lot 116 Christie's slip labels. Levels: five good and one 7 cms below base of cork
3 bottles per lot
MUCH TRAVELLED RARE OLD MADEIRA
Recently removed from the cellars of Myers Castle, Auchtermuchty, Fife, and now lying in Wiltshire
The following wines have an impeccable provenance. They are all from the famous Casa Torre Bella estate a Camara de Lobos in Madeira and were cellared at the Casa Torre Bella frasqueira in Funchal until shipped from Lisbon to Scotland via San Francisco.
All except the 1950 vintage Tinta Negra Mole were re-bottled and recorked in Funchal under Captain Fairlie's supervision in April 1987. The bottles tend to be of different shapes and sizes some being the traditional shape for madeira and others in slender Burgundy-style bottles. Each bottle has the Fairlie family crest impressed on the wax seal and bears two labels, an original TORRE BELLA label with Count Torre Bella's coat of arms and 'Madeira', the other a fully descriptive label especially printed for this sale.
According to Noël Cossart, in his authoritative book MADEIRA, the Island Vineyard (Christie's Wine Publications, 1984) 'the casa Torre Bella vineyards at Torre, Camara de Lobos, have produced more fine vintages than any other on the island, but the name will not be found on labels, except perhaps on the bottles of Russell Manners Gordon'--except that is, for the bottles in this sale.
Russell Manners Gordon, Webster Gordon's son, left the family firm in 1857 when he married Doña Filomena Gabriela Correia Brandão Henriques de Noronha, Viscountess Torre Bella in her own right. The king of Portugal offered Russell the title of Count Torre Bella on condition that he took Portuguese nationality, which he accepted, thus, with his wife's properties, becoming the largest landowner and vineyard proprietor on the island. The statutes of the partnership demanded that partners had to be of British nationality, so Russell had to retire from the family firm Cossart Gordon, but ensured that his name remained. Cossart Gordon, now part of the Madeira Wine Company, continues to absorb the products of the vineyards, which are still owned by the family.
'There is a very marked characteristic of all wines made by the Torre Bella family which seems to have been prevalent during four generations. The wines, which are mostly from the Camara de Lobos and Araco da Calheta vineyards, are full, rich, well-balanced wines with a very attractive acid finish. The vineyards are still producing fine modern vintages' (Cossart).
The Rorre Bella estate was inherited in 1974 by the two great granddaughters of Russell Manners Gordon, Mrs Ann Fairlie, the wife of the present owner and Mrs Susan Seldon. At this date the Casa Torre Bella owned 10.6 of the entire island of Madeira, and had 1,200 tenants farming 30,000 acres. Steps were taken to transfer Mrs. Fairlie's share of the considerable stock of old and rare madeiras to the United Kingdom but permission was not granted by the authorities until after she died, suddenly, in May 1986.
Even then the story does not end: the wines were shipped from Funchal to Felixstowe where the duty and Value Added Tax was paid. The consignment was then moved into another warehouse prior ro despatch by road to Scotland. In error they were loaded onto a container and shipped through the Panama Canal to San Francisco. They were returned by the same route and correctly delivered to Myres Castle in February 1988. So this madeira has, quite inadvertenty, followed an 18th century tradition, when madeira wines were shipped to the East and West Indies in the hold of merchant ships where they were said to improve and mellow due to the heat and motion of the vessels. Christie's catalogues of the second half of that century and of the earlier part of the 19th century frequently feature such much travelled madeiras.
Nor is it the first time that Christie's have sold famous old Torre Bella wines. The very considerable collection of Russell Manners Gordon, Count Torre Bella, was sold at Christie's on March 16th 1864. One of the bottles from this collection, a Cama de Lobos, vintage 1789, made in the year of the French revolution, was again sold at Christie's in London on September 29th 1977 for (175. This wine is known at Messrs. Cossart Gordon a 'Old Gordons's Madeira'.
Verdelho--Vintage 1877
Camara de Lobos, Torre
Rewaxed damaged capsules. Bin-soiled and damaged labels. Lot 115 one with Christie's slip-label. Levels into neck. Lot 116 Christie's slip labels. Levels: five good and one 7 cms below base of cork
3 bottles per lot
Special notice
No VAT will be charged on the hammer price, but VAT at 17.5% will be added to the buyer's premium which is invoiced on a VAT inclusive basis.