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Douro - Burmester

The family name ‘Burmester’ comes from the German word “Burgmeester” (Mayor) – as the family came from the small town of Moelln in Northern Germany. In 1730, Henry Burmester and John Nash established a grain trading business in London under the name Burmester & Nash. In 1750, the business moved to Vila Nova de Gaia and began shipping Port to the British Isles and the rest of Europe.
At the end of the 18th century the firm was closed, when Henry Burmester and his two sons, Fredrick and Edward, founded a new company for the export of Port wine: H.Burmester & Sons. After the death of his father in 1822, Fredrick became a prominent member of the British community in Portugal, among other things as Treasurer of ‘The Factory House’ in Porto. He was also still very active in London. Here he was one of the founders of the ‘Westminster Bank’. Incidentally, at that time there were more members of the Burmester family active in the financial world; John William Burmester was the founder of the ‘London County Banking Company’.
The commercial and financial activities of the Burmester family were highly valued in London. The most famous street in the Wimbledon district is the ‘Burmester Road’.
The invasion of Napoleon’s troops in Portugal forced Frederick Burmester to leave the country. Later, in 1834, Johann Wilhelm Burmester, a distant relative from Hamburg, was asked to take over the management of the company. In 1880, the company name was changed to J.W. Burmester & Cº.
Johann Wilhelm’s marriage produced six sons, all of whom continued the family’s commercial interests in port wine, insurance, bottle production, shipping and the textile trade. The eldest son, Gustav Adolf, together with his brother Otto, were the two great Port entrepreneurs of CASA BURMESTER.
Gustav Adolf managed the company with vision and efficiency. He increased the company’s exports to new European markets and America. He developed a new marketing strategy, registered the J.W. Burmester in 1900, created new labels, and won major prizes at national and international wine competitions - Lisbon 1888; Berlin 1888; Paris 1889; Chicago 1893.

The First World War had a rather negative impact on the Port sector. It was up to the new generation to get things back on track. Hans Steinmetz, son-in-law of João Guilherme Burmester, and his nephew, Karl Gilbert, ensured the recovery of exports. They set up new divisions within the company that were to deal with production, sales and exports. In 1952, the Burmester-Gilbert generation (Helmut and Arnold) took over the business. In 1962, a second company was set up alongside Burmester: Gilberts e Cº. From generation to generation, Messrs Burmester and Gilbert were honoured for their know-how and passion for the Port trade.
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