The Thames has been a key to supporting trade with the capital and across the south east for hundreds of years and while today it is used more for pleasure craft than commercial the history of Marlow’s place in trade has been a key one. Marlow attracted merchants who traded with those in the capital and acted as middlemen for rural resources needed by the swelling numbers of urban dwellers.

Drifting into the relative calm of the Victorian era, leisure pursuits began to replace labouring on the river. Fishing and boating were already popular, but when Jerome K Jerome published his famous Three Men in a Boat – reputedly written at Marlow’s Two Brewers pub – in 1889, the number of boats registered on the river increased by 50 per cent to 12,000 in just one year.

Our head office is based on the 24th floor of Europe’s tallest building, a 306 m high iconic tower, The Shard, located just near London Bridge directly overlooking the Thames. The architect Renzo Piano wanted The Shard to resemble a church spire, inspired by a painting of London by 18th-century Venetian painter Canaletto as well as the masts of sailing ships.

Apart from the iconic building why is this location important for us? Well it is close to the river, a theme which runs through our history, but more importantly, this location is connected to the main botanicals we use in our distillation.

Directly in front of the Shard beside the Thames is Hay’s Wharf (now Hay’s Galleria). From 1840 onwards, around 80% of the dry goods imported to London arrived in Hay’s Wharf and the building was used as a warehouse for tea storage. Thirty years later, the newly-built Butler’s Wharf by Tower Bridge, also in Southwark, became the largest tea warehouse in the world. Once unloaded, the chests of tea were trundled into the vast storage space and kept safe until they had been sold at the weekly tea auctions in Mincing Lane, and then delivered to the various tea companies, many of which had their tasting rooms, packing facilities and offices overlooking the river.

The third-longest river on the Iberian Peninsula, the Douro (whose name many believe is derived from the Portuguese for “golden”) flows westward from its origins in north-central Spain, forms part of the border between Spain and Portugal, then cuts across northern Portugal all the way to the Atlantic coast, where it empties into the Atlantic at Porto. The Portuguese section forms the heart of the Douro River Valley vinhateiro – one of the oldest wine-producing regions on Earth, active for nearly 2,000 years. The home of world-famous Port wine, the region is a UNESCO World Heritage Site.

In 1791 the eastern reaches of the Douro River were opened to navigation when the massive outcrops of rock obstructing the Valeira Gorge were finally removed.  This made it economically viable to plant vineyards in the eastern area of the Douro Valley which became known as the Douro Novo, or ‘New Douro’, and later as the Douro Superior.  In the years that followed many new estates were established in this area, including some famous properties whose magnificent wines did much to enhance the prestige of Port.