If the mark of a fine wine is its ability to age, then the Madeiras made by D’Oliveiras – the wine producer earning the top spot in the inaugural IWSC Top 50: Wine list – are among the finest in the world. Founded in 1850, Pereira D’Oliveira remains family-owned and is currently run by the fifth generation of the D’Oliveira dynasty. Headquartered in Funchal, its hallowed cellars date back to 1619 and are home to the largest collection of old Madeira stocks on the planet, with the company having grown its wine library through various acquisitions to an impressive 1.5 million litres that are bottled to order.
The D’Oliveira family started out as reputable grape growers in the parish of São Martinho. Today, D’Oliveiras produces around 150,000 litres of Madeira annually across a wide range of wines. The philosophy is simple: to make Madeiras of the highest possible quality, tapping into experience acquired over two centuries. Established by local landowner and grower João Pereira D’Oliveira, a visionary who was early to clock the value of Madeira wine and its ability to age and improve over time, today the company is headed up by João’s great-grandson Luis D’Oliveira and his nephew Filipe D’Oliveira, the chief winemaker.
Madeira is a centuries-old product and I do my best not to alter this tradition too much, as it would make our wines the same as so many others
For Filipe, taking the reins and continuing his family’s legacy was a given: ‘Our family business has always been managed over the generations by its members and I simply followed in the footsteps of my father, my great mentor,’ he says. Cautious of not wanting to mess with a winning formula, Filipe’s approach to winemaking is one of fine-tuning rather than revolution. ‘Madeira is a centuries-old product and I do my best not to alter this tradition too much, as it would make our wines the same as so many others,’ he says.
D’Oliveiras first expanded in the early 1930s when João Pereira’s grandson, Agostinho, married into the Camacho family, adding the assets of the João Joaquim Camacho & Sons wine exporting firm, which included Julio Augusto Cunha & Sons, lauded for its fine Verdelhos. Fast forward to the 1980s and the firm added Madeira exporter Vasco Luis Pereira to its portfolio. In 2000, Agostinho’s sons, Aníbal and Luis, bought Adegas Torreão near the Hinton Torreão sugar works in Funchal. In addition to a beautiful Art Deco building, the sale included what remained of the company’s barrel stocks, such as Sercial from 1928.
Keen to modernise while staying true to their roots, Aníbal and Luis ushered in a new era for D’Oliveiras, opening up their portfolio of wines for export outside of the island, which helped to seal the company’s reputation around the world. Most recently, the firm snapped up small producer Arturo de Barros e Sousa in 2013, housed next to its lodge on the Rua dos Ferreiros. Not exporting until the 1970s has worked in the winery’s favour when it comes to older vintages, as D’Oliveiras presides over the largest collection of old Madeiras on the island, including five exceptional Verdelhos from the family’s São Martinho vineyards: 1850, 1890, 1900, 1905 and 1912.
Coming first in the IWSC Top 50 for wine producers is recognition of our hard work and dedication
Other liquid treasures in the D’Oliveiras library are Malvasias from 1875, 1895, 1900, 1901 and 1907; Buals from 1903, 1904 and 1908, and Sercials from 1862, 1875, 1928 and 1937. The family also presides over Terrantez from 1880 and 1899, Bastardo from 1927, and Moscatel from 1875 and 1900. The hallmarks of the D’Oliveiras house style are powerful aromatics, an appealing viscosity on the palate, immense structure and astonishing longevity. Big believers in cask maturation, older vintages are kept for decades in wood – D’Oliveiras was among the first on the island to add bottling years to its back labels, while the front of its bottles are hand-painted, meaning no two are exactly alike.
In addition to ancient bottlings, D’Oliveiras also boasts impressive stocks of younger vintage wines spanning frasqueiras (which spend at least 20 years in barrel) and colheitas (that only require five). Filipe finds it hard to single out the wine he’s most proud of. ‘I treat all my wines with care and dedication,’ he says, but, when pushed, highlights the 1991 Malvazia, 1994 Verdelho and 2001 Boal as among the best recent vintages. For Filipe, what makes D’Oliveiras stand out among its competitors are its ‘extremely high-quality raw materials’ and the traditional methods used throughout the winemaking process. While he admits that Madeira only accounts for ‘a drop’ in the global wine ocean, he’s happy that the fortified wine is now recognised and appreciated all over the world.
The two D’Oliveiras Madeiras that particularly impressed the IWSC judges in 2025 were its 1986 Boal and 2001 Verdelho. The former was awarded 95 points and scooped both a gold medal and a trophy, with judges praising its ‘rich and expressive’ character, ‘complex harmony of well-managed fruit’, and ‘impressively long’ finish. It’s a wine of which Filipe is very proud. ‘I treated it like a second son,’ he says.
As for the 2001 Verdelho, it received 97 points, winning judges over with its ‘refined intensity’ and ‘enticing aromas of orange peel, caramel and hint of anise’. So how does Filipe feel about the fact that D’Oliveiras has been named the number one producer in the IWSC’s Top 50: Wine list? ‘For me, it’s the result of our collective effort,’ he says. ‘This achievement is dedicated not only to me but to all our collaborators; it’s recognition of our hard work and dedication. All victories are important but this one feels particularly sweet.’
