With the continuing expansion of the firm, Edward da Silva and Frederick Cosens were joined by George Acheson Warre, whose well known family had been involved in the Port trade since its earliest years. Edward da Silva was to be the Benevolent’s chairman and then, from 1892, its president for many years.
Edward became a highly respected figure in the London wine trade and was one of the founders of the Wine Trade Benevolent Society, the leading charity which survives to this day as the principal British wine trade organisation. Edward da Silva inherited his grandfather’s business ability and the company continued to prosper. Together with John’s son, Edward, they became the active partners in Silva & Cosens. The Port shipping business was continued by Bruno’s son, John da Silva who in 1862 brought into partnership Frederick William Cosens. His became the first and only Port company to transport its precious cargo of casks of fine Ports under its own armed protection across the treacherous Bay of Biscay, a strong dissuasion to attack during a period when less audacious companies saw their sales dwindle away. Undaunted, Bruno da Silva applied for ‘letters of marque’ (Royal Assent to equip a merchant ship with guns) to secure safe passage of his Port from Oporto to Bristol and to London.
But the outbreak of the Napoleonic wars put his business in jeopardy. He married an Englishwoman and was rapidly assimilated into London society where his business acumen led to a fine reputation for his wines. Bruno set up in London from where he imported wine from his native country. It began in 1798 when Bruno da Silva, a Portuguese merchant from Oporto, made a journey which was the opposite to that of the first British merchants. The story of Dow’s is unusual amongst all the great Port houses. Dow’s attractive and distinctive drier finish is the recognizable hallmark of the wines from this great Port house. Generations of Symington winemakers have worked at the Dow’s vineyards: Quinta do Bomfim and Quinta da Senhora da Ribeira, creating from them Dow’s superbly concentrated wines that are intense and tannic when young, maturing towards a superlative racy elegance with age and scented with violet and mint aromas. Throughout the 20th Century and into the 21st, the Symington family has built on the legacy of the preceding Silva and Dow families. For over two centuries the name of DOW has been associated with the finest Port from the vineyards of the Upper Douro Valley.