The Rare Wine Co. - The Leacock Collection

On December 11, 2008, William Leacock, the last of the Madeira Leacocks, sold his wine collection at Christie’s in London. Other former members of the Madeira trade have sold wine at auction, but since records have been kept, there’s never been a sale even remotely like this one. For one thing, his collection represented virtually everything that belonged to the Leacocks, major players in the Madeira trade for 250 years, longer than any other British family. William was the only son of Edmund Leacock, who had bought out his brother Julian’s interest in the business in 1953. So, the wines ended up with William.

History’s Legacy. Yet there’s much more to the importance of this collection. It was the crème de la crème—the result of a consolidation in the Madeira trade that began in 1913. This was when the first shippers joined together for survival, calling themselves the Madeira Wine Association (MWA). In 1925 two of the three biggest shippers, Leacock and Blandy reorganized the MWA. Over the next four decades, almost every shipper of note—both British and Portuguese—was absorbed into the MWA, pooling not only their brands but their old wines. Quietly, with an eye to the future, the Leacocks and Blandys pulled out a few bottles of all the greatest wines for their own collections.

There has never been a major auction of Blandy family-owned wines. The Blandys had more children than the Leacocks, which led to more dividing of the family jewels over the generations. No Blandy descendent has ever sold more than a few bottles at a time, but on one day, December 11, 2008, William Leacock sold virtually all the Madeira he inherited: twenty-five unique and irreplaceable wines, of which two-thirds were from the eighteenth or nineteenth centuries. And though the most important wines generally numbered under three or four dozen bottles, such quantities are unprecedented since wine auction records began to be preserved.

Now that the Leacock wines have been dispersed, it is unlikely that a collection of such magnitude, rarity, provenance and importance will ever again come onto the market.

Past Glories. No wine has a longer and richer history than Madeira, which has been produced on the volcanic island of Madeira for more than five hundred years. But were it not for British merchants, like John Leacock and his descendents, Madeira might have remained a common beverage and not the noble wine that it was to become.

British merchants began to arrive on the island at the beginning of the seventeenth century. They took advantage of Madeira’s favored position in the North Atlantic, with ships passing by it as they sailed south and west from Britain. They traded the island’s wines with associates not only in England, but in British outposts from South America to the Far East. The wine became especially popular in warm climates, because it withstood exposure to heat both during and after shipment. In fact, it was found that its journeys through the tropics actually improved the wine.

By the late 1700s, Madeira had evolved into one of the world’s most expensive and prized wines. And one of the merchants who contributed to that rise in stature was John Leacock, who had arrived on the island in 1741, as an indentured apprentice to John Catanach, a wine merchant. By 1757, Leacock had secured his release and formed partnerships with George Spence and Michael Nowlan. Other partnerships followed until 1835, when John Leacock’s grandsons George Butler Leacock and Thomas Slapp Leacock formed “Leacock & Co.” They were succeeded by John Milburne Leacock (born 1847) and Edmund and Julian Leacock (born 1891 and 1893, respectively).

Pioneers in the Trade. With their roots in the 1750s, the Leacocks were the oldest British family in the Madeira wine trade, preceding even the Blandys and Cossarts. When, in the 1920s, the Madeira Wine Association (MWA) was consolidated to assure Madeira’s survival during difficult economic times, John Milburne Leacock was a driving force. In later decades, his son Edmund provided similar leadership. And when Portugal’s 1974 Revolution shifted the balance of political power on the island, Edmund’s son William was one of three men entrusted with leading the MWA into the future.

But William wasn’t as committed to wine as his father. And so when Edmund died in 1977, the Leacock family sold the Blandys all of its shares in the MWA.

But the family’s priceless old Madeiras remained, passed on to William by his father. And because he was no longer in the wine business, the collection was frozen in time, as a legacy of the last two centuries of the Leacocks’ involvement in the Madeira trade.

The Rare Wine Co.’s Role. We were in Christie’s London sale rooms on December 11, 2008, when the Leacock collection was sold. And of the twenty-five wines worthy of their own auction lots, The Rare Wine Co. purchased seventeen of those we considered the most essential.

For the most part, the wines we bought fall into two groups: legendary blue chips and previously unknown Madeiras laid down for the private use of the Leacock family.

The blue chips are of the sort that at best have rarely appeared on the market over the past half century. They were not necessarily made by the Leacocks; in fact, most were not. Instead they were either purchased from other families and producers on the island or many decades ago taken out of the Madeira Wine Association’s inventory because of their extreme importance and rarity. Producers included T.T. de Camara Lomelino, Eugenia de Bianchi Henriques, H.M. Borges and F.F. Ferraz. Some might call these “holy grail” wines, others “desert island” wines. But the bottom line is that they are among the most mythic coveted Madeiras in existence.

The remainder of the wines we purchased were essentially “Leacock family wines,” laid down for the birth of children or wines set aside from their business as wine producers. But none of these wines were previously known to those outside the Leacock family.

The Epic Tastings. We were major buyers of the Leacock Collection wines, the quantities we’ve secured are of course very small. And in the case of the most important wines, they are painfully small. Our mission is to share these wines with as many Madeira lovers as possible—recognizing that we may never have the chance again.

And so on June 6 and 7, 2009, we conducted major tastings of the Leacock family Madeiras at the Grand Café of the Hotel Monaco in San Francisco. We will be writing about the tasting, and our preparations for it, on the new Rare Wine Co. Blog.

We hope to conduct one or two additional tastings on the East Coast later this year. Finally, some of the wines will also be offered for very limited sale in the coming months. For now, please click on the links below for further fascinating details of the Leacock family Madeiras.

Click wines to view more information.

> Lomelino: Bottled History

Two of the most coveted wines in the Leacock Collection—the 1845 Quinta da Paz and 1836 Bastardo—bear simple early 20th-century labels with “Tarquinio T. da C. Lomelino Lda” written across the bottom. Apart from the British houses of Cossart, Leacock and Blandy, Lomelino was the most important source of fine Madeira in the nineteenth century. And today, some of the most coveted wines from the early part of that century have Lomelino connections.

The Lomelino firm sprang from an earlier company—that of Robert Leal, which began trading in 1820. Leal was among the most important Madeira shippers of his day, and the wines of “Bobby Leal” were found on the finest American wine lists of the mid-1800s. Born in 1795, Leal died in 1873 without heirs. And so he left his business to his protegé, Tarquinio Torquato da Câmara Lomelino (1818-1888).

Though many of the greatest Lomelino wines actually came from Leal, it is the Lomelino name that is remembered today. Not only did Tarquinio have the foresight to hold on to many of the best Leal wines, he was an important ambassador for Madeira, winning prizes at European expositions during his short tenure at the helm of the firm.

On Tarquinio’s death, the business passed to Carlo de Bianchi, who was related by marriage. Carlo was himself a larger-than-life figure and the great-grandfather of Noël Cossart, whose book on Madeira remains the classic history from a merchant’s perspective.

In addition to the Lomelino-labeled wines, there is one further connection to Lomelino to be found in the Leacock family collection: the famous 1868 “EBH” Very Old Boal. Eugenia de Bianchi Henriques was the granddaughter of both Tarquinio and Carlo, and we can assume that this and other surviving “EBH” wines came from the Lomelino or Leal companies.

> Quinta da Paz

Lomelino’s 1845 Quinta da Paz is certainly one of the most important wines in the collection. It is also a wine we’ve lusted after for as long as we’ve known of its existence. But we had never had the chance because the last bottle came up at auction 22 years ago.

This wine—produced on the estate of Joseph Phelps, an important early British shipper—came into the possession of the Leacocks and Blandys when Lomelino joined the MWA in the 1930s. It has been cherished by generations of both families. In 1971, Graham Blandy gave each of his children two bottles, calling them “museum pieces”. Prior to the Leacock sale, only seven bottles are known to have ever appeared at auction: at least two came from Blandy children and two more from Tom Mullins. These bottles brought among the highest Madeira auction prices for their time.

> The Earliest Bastardo Known to Exist

Another star of the Leacock collection is the 1836 Lomelino Bastardo, a previously unknown wine. It undoubtedly came into the Leacocks’ possession when Lomelino joined the Madeira Wine Association in the 1930s.

At age 173, this is not only the oldest vintage Bastardo known to exist, it is a wine of great richness. From a pre-sale tasting, Michael Broadbent wrote: “Tawny-bronze colour with pronounced yellow-green rim; though typically tangy; totally different, unfamiliar, spirity bouquet; very sweet, soft texture, lovely flavour. Five stars.” Also from a pre-sale tasting, The Wine Advocate’s Neal Martin wrote: “heavenly bouquet... wonderful balance and subtlety... just gets better and better in the glass.”

> Eugenia de Bianchi Henriques’ Wine

The 1868 “EBH” Very Old Boal is among the true legends of Madeira. The initials stand for Eugenia de Bianchi Henriques, who had two famous grandfathers: on her mother’s side, Tarquinio Torquato da Câmara Lomelino, the founder of Lomelino, and on her father’s, Carlo de Bianchi, who ran Lomelino after Tarquinio’s death. She was also the aunt of Noël Cossart and wife of Tiburcio Henriques, scion of Câma do Lobos’ important Henriques family.

Such connections explain the great Boals that appeared under Eugenia’s initials from vintages like 1869, 1870 and 1893. But the 1868 is the most revered. In his 2002 book, Vintage Wine, Michael Broadbent wrote of it: “Translucent, ethereal, herbaceous, full, rich, lovely texture, great length... A famous wine, surpassed only by the 1862 (HMB) Terrantez. Five stars.”

But while the EBH 1868 is famous, it’s also incredibly rare. Since 1988, it had appeared only three times at auction: a single bottle in 1999, three bottles in 2006 and three bottles in 2008 (which we purchased). But over the course of five minutes on December 11, 2008, bidders had the chance to seize an unheard-of 23 bottles of this iconic wine.

> The HMB Terrantez Mystery

The most important lots in the entire sale may possibly have been the 48 bottles of undated Terrantez from the legendary Henriques Menèzes Borges. Though the wine is clearly vintage Terrantez, and of celestial quality, the bottles bear no date, merely “Terrantez H M B” on two lines.

Until his death in 1916, Borges was arguably Madeira’s greatest judge of Terrantez, best known for the 1846 and 1862 vintages that bore his name and initials. Despite the absence of a date on the bottles, William Leacock’s HMB Terrantez rivals those two legendary wines.

Notes from the presale tastings bear this out. Michael Broadbent, for example, wrote: “Medium-deep bronze colour with apple green rim; tangy. High toned bouquet; very rich, very powerful, lovely texture and hot dry finish. Magnificent wine. Five stars.” The Wine Advocate’s Neal Martin added: “a delectable barley sugar scented nose... harmonious, very honeyed... a beautiful Madeira. 96 points.”

But the question remains, what vintage of H.M. Borges Terrantez is in those bottles? Unfortunately, William Leacock doesn’t know; the wine was acquired by his father or grandfather. Nor does Christie’s know. The sale catalogue stated that the vintage is “believed 1920s”, but during the presale tasting, this was corrected to “bottled in the 1920s”, with a possible vintage in the mid- to late-1800s.

Inevitably, the speculation zeroes in on 1862. This is considered to be not only Borges’ greatest Terrantez, but one of the greatest Madeiras ever made, and a wine that in recent years has regularly sold for between $3000 and $5000 a bottle.

But why 1862? Apart from the staggering quality of the wine in the Leacock bottles, we ?re riveted by the stenciling, because of all the H.M. Borges Terrantezes we have ever seen—including 1760, 1790, 1846, 1862, 1877, 1890, 1899 and 1900—only 1862 is typically stenciled “Terrantez HMB” on separate lines as are the Leacock bottles.

The stenciling of the Leacock bottles also fits the description of several similarly undated bottles of “Terrantez HMB” that were sold at Christie ?s (London) in the early 1980s. Christies catalogued each of these bottles as either “1862” or “Believed to be 1862”. The provenance also fits, since each of the bottles sold in the early “80’s came from the Leacocks” partners in the Madeira Wine Association: the Blandys or Tom Mullins, the MWA’s longtime director.

> A.G. Pacheco

The undated A.G. Pacheco challenges the 1845 Quinta da Paz for rarity. Since the 1970s, we know of only four bottles having been sold at auction, the last in 1986. Bottled by the Madeira Wine Association in 1927, the bottles previously sold had come from Tom Mullins. In 1978 a bottle sold for the same price as a bottle of 1789 Avery's Câma do Lobos in the same sale.

The origin of the wine has long been a mystery. Though A.G. Pacheco was likely the owner of the estate on which the wine was produced, no one today can say for sure who he was, where his vineyards were or the period in which the wine was made—though it was almost certainly vintaged before Phylloxera arrived in 1875.

> Other Madeiras in The Leacock Collection

1928 Leacock Verdelho “EEL” (Edmund Erskine Leacock). A wine we had not seen before—for the likely reason that it was privately owned by William Leacock’s father, Edmund. In his pre-sale tasting notes, Michael Broadbent wrote: “Medium pale green-tinged amber, pale yellow-green rim; rich, ‘meaty’ bouquet; medium-sweet, rich, good length, dry finish. Four stars.”

1881 Leacock Terrantez. With its uniquely sweet-bitter (dolce-piccante) taste, Terrantez has always enjoyed an esteemed position among Madeira’s grape varieties. An old Portuguese maxim is that Terrantez should never be given away or eaten; God made it for winemaking. But it is a demanding variety to grow and was generally not replanted after Phylloxera. Post-phylloxera Terrantezes are extremely rare, but none is rarer than this 1881 example, which, before the 2008 Christie’s sale, seems never to have been sold at auction.

1825 Leacock “Seco”. “Seco” means dry, an adjective most commonly applied to Sercial. But the grape components of this particular Madeira are unknown. While it could be an old Sercial whose identity was lost over the years, it’s more likely a Verdelho-dominated blend, as most Madeiras were in the 1820s. Not bottled until 1932, the wine spent 107 years in some combination of cask and demijohn, which mellowed and concentrated it, producing a Madeira that’s gently sweet, and certainly sweeter than the name “Seco” would suggest.

Leacock Malvazia “VMA”. A rare nineteenth-century Malmsey believed bottled between 1910 and 1930. The bottles are all stenciled “Malvasia” with the characteristic “Leacock Madeira” stenciling below. A few of the bottles also have the stenciled letters “VMA.” But all of the bottles were binned together and are believed to be the same wine. The meaning of the letters “VMA” is unknown.

1934 Leacock “SJ” Madeira. An early twentieth-century rarity, this one from the Leacock family’s own vineyard, St. John’s or São João, on the outskirts of Funchal. The vineyard was 13 acres in size, very large by Madeira standards, and it was here that Thomas Slapp Leacock conducted his famed experiments in finding a “cure” for Phylloxera.

1890 Leacock Sercial. Very rare: a wine that has never before appeared at auction or in any records we've seen. In pre-sale tastings, Michael Broadbent thought it glorious: “Medium amber with pronounced yellow-green rim; superb, ethereal, tangy bouquet; swingingly dry. Five stars.” The Wine Advocate’s Neal Martin agreed: “a beautiful Sercial... an ephemeral finish. Very feminine and sensuous.”

1896 HFS “E” & 1895 HFS “JPW” Madeiras. A pair of intriguing wines. Our still-to-be-confirmed suspicion is that these Madeiras were laid down in the late 1890s for two of the sons of John Milburne Leacock: Edmund Erskine (born 1891) and Julian Philip (born 1893).

Leacock “A”. The mysterious bottles are quite old and bear the simply stenciled letter “A”. In the December 2008 catalogue, Michael Broadbent wrote of this: “razor-sharp old Sercial character, possible of the 1860 vintage; medium sweet entry, very dry finish, good texture and flavour.” However, we are increasingly of the mind that this not Sercial at all, and that the letter “A” stands for “Aguardente” and that the dryness is due to some distillation.