Credit must go to an exiled Scotsman
 
The stone beach just off Calheta
Wine barrels being prepared for transfer onto boats on the “Calhau” of Calheta, a strong wine producing village of Madeira in the 19th century.
Among the distinguished British coming to Madeira to set up wine businesses was the well-known Francis Newton, who arrived in 1745, exiled from Scotland.
He saw the full potential of the yet-to-be-developed wine and was one of those first few people during the Napoleonic occupation of the Iberian peninsula that suggested the process of fortification with brandy, which led to the permanent tradition of making Madeira a fortified vinho generoso.
Before that time Madeira had been merely aged in wooden casks.
Newton had a good market in England with the veteran officers who had returned from the Revolutionary War and yearned for a glass of Madeira wine like they had enjoyed across the Atlantic.
Vinho Cannavial - An Old Wine Lable
Many wine lables started to appear during the 18th century
 
Later, more success was held in consolidating the English market. British soldiers occupied Madeira in 1801 for a year during the Napoleonic activities on continental Europe. They returned to stay another seven years in 1807, till 1814. These soldiers took home with them a taste for the wine which spurred the market on to try it in England more..

 

 
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Bjelkaroy & Barbosa, Lda 1997/8 - Design Limbo