D'Oliveiras ... did you know?

[Roy Hersh]

I noticed that many write ups of the famed Madeira company D'Oliveira do not use the "s" at the end of the family name but the bottles of wine often times do include it. I asked Mannie Berk if he knew why and he reached out to Luis D'Oliveira to confirm:

" ... told me that "D'Oliveiras" is indeed plural, but without any special meaning. From the old labels that I've seen, at least through the 1960s the labeled vintage wines read "Joao Pereira D'Oliveira" as the brand, while the stenciled bottles had no name at all on them. Joao was Luis' and Anibal's great-grandfather."

So it appears the family name is D'Oliveira but the wine is properly designated these days as D'Oliveiras. I wanted to check this out, to ensure that my tasting notes are titled properly.