Alex,
Morgan (estab. in the early 1700s) was managed by Croft from the early 1950s. There used to be rumors that Morgan was just a blend of Croft & Delaforce, but I've heard that was not true, but others swear it was. Who knows? Regardless, no one can point to the quinta source of the grapes which I always found interesting. At best, Morgan used to receive the grapes/juice that Croft would not put in their own VP. It never made its way to the USA but the UK was their huge marketplace and Morgan was big into Buyer's Own Brand - Ports (BOB) which also is a British phenomenon that never made its way to the USA, except for rare bottlings at Trader Joe's or maybe once at Costco.
In the early daze of Morgan Brothers their Tawny Ports are what got them noticed. I had the 1991 VP only once and it was during my last visit to the UK in Oct., along with Tom Archer. Given the price he paid for them, it was a heck of a great deal and a solid VP, although I was not as impressed with it as I thought I would be (I had it blind so there was no label bias) from all that I had read. Nonetheless, I believe I scored it 92 and given the cost per bottle ... it was a steal of a deal. I wonder if it had been another 10 quid per bottle, if everyone would have been as impressed?
OTOH, Romariz was not founded until the mid-19th century, selling mostly to the market in Brazil, followed by the UK. That was then and since the early days, the order has been reversed (and then some). The Romariz family owned the company until 1966 and it wound up in the hands of Taylor Fladgate by way of the Guimaraens "link" but that is a long story. The Romariz property (a poor and deteriorated Quinta) near Regua is nothing to look at and would scare off serious Port lovers who have been to the likes of Noval/Vesuvio/Crasto/Vargellas etc. David Guimaraens helps in the production these days (as his father Bruce, used to) and things have improved in recent years ... especially since David took over. I am not sure but I remember something about Quinta d Nogueira being used by Romariz too, but I could be mistaken. As those on this year's Harvest Tour probably noticed, the Fonseca Lodge is used for bottling. The best Ports I have tasted (although not recently) was the 20 and 30 year old Tawny Ports. The guys who run the Romariz company day-to-day have invited me to come see what's new, but so far I have not taken them up on the offer. One of these days ... It should also be noted that Romariz bought the existing stocks of Borges in the late 1990s (or there abouts) and that has bolstered their Tawny Ports even more. The greatest wine you can find of theirs is the '44 Colheita and it would only be found in Portugl or an old UK cellar today, that is for sure.
As far as I know, there was no relationship between Romariz and Morgan until The Fladgate Partnership purchased Croft. Otherwise, I am not aware of a previous link, but that does not mean that there never had been one.
Morten,
Welcome aboard and thanks for the poignant post and introduction. Even if you feel you don't have much to add, you can always ask questions!
Come back soon!
