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Adrian Bridge
CEO
@ The Fladgate Partnership
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Born in a fine year for Vintage Port (1963) Adrian spent 6 years in the British Army (1st The Queen’s Dragoon Guards) and a similar length of time in Investment Banking, with NatWest, before moving to Portugal in 1994 as part of the new generation of family management at Taylor’s and Fonseca Port. He took over running the business in 1998 and has been involved in the consolidation of the Port sector as well as overseeing a move into wine tourism.
Taylor’s is one of the oldest companies in the world having been founded 332 years ago by an Englishman. It has retained strong links ever since.
Adrian’s major contributions to Port wine, apart from growing the group’s strength in the special category Ports, were the introduction of the first ever Rosé Port in 2008 (Croft Pink), super luxury Aged Tawnies in 2010 (Taylor’s Scion) and Ready to Drink canned Ports with tonic water in 2021 (Taylor’s Chip Dry and Tonic and Croft Pink and Tonic).
However, the development of the luxury wine hotel The Yeatman in 2010 was probably the project most associated with Adrian, who was involved in all aspects of its creation. The group now has four hotels between Porto, Douro, and Lisbon. More recently, he built the ambitious World of Wine, which opened in July 2020 and is a new cultural district of the city with 7 Experiences/Museums, restaurants, retail, a wine bar, a wine school, and a bar chocolate factory. Adrian is a founding partner and majority owner of Unlock Boutique Hotels – a hotel management company with 21 properties across Portugal. The Fladgate Partnership is the holding company for all these activities, and where Adrian serves as Chairman and CEO.
Adrian created The Porto Protocol in 2018 which is a global initiative to get wineries to help tackle climate change by sharing solutions that work with others in the industry. It runs several workshops, conferences, and initiatives and currently has members throughout the wine value chain. Launched in 2018, with the help of President Obama, the Porto Protocol is active in 20 countries, on 5 continents and has over 400 companies in the wine value chain involved – including the UK retailer Marks and Spencer.
He is involved in a number of other charitable activities – including looking after The Royal British Legion in Northern Portugal. In September 2024 Adrian was made a Knight of Royal Order of Saint Michael, Portugal’s oldest chivalric order dating back to 1171.
Adrian enjoys climbing big mountains around the world and has conquered many of the highest peaks.
He is married and has three adult children.
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