This is surely one of the oldest bottles of wine to be available on the open market. Dating from 1792, this dates (almost) back to the start of the Leacock & Co story.
John Leacock sailed to Madeira from the United Kingdom (after the death of his father) in 1741 and at the age of 15 became the youngest apprentice at the firm of Madeira merchants, Catanach and Murdoch, staying until his contract expired on 11 March 1749.
From there, the story is a little hazy, but we do however know that George Spence (former partner of a rival shipping firm, Newton and Spence – now known as Cossart & Gordon), joined him in 1758, Michael Nowlan in 1759 and John Russell Spence, son of George Spence joined in 1762.
By far the most distinguished of the family was Thomas Slapp Leacock whose tenacity in identifying and treating the phylloxera vatatrix vine disease at his Saint John vineyard saved the island’s traditional grape varieties.
Photos available on request. Please contact [email protected].
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