Adrian Bridge
Keynote speaker
Born in a fine year for Vintage Port (1963) Adrian spent 6 years in the British Army and a similar length of time in Investment Banking before moving to Portugal in 1994 as part of the new generation of family management at Taylor’s and Fonseca Port. He took over running the business in 1998 and has been involved in the consolidation of the Port sector as well as over seeing a move in wine tourism.
In Port wine his major contributions apart from growing the group’s strength in special category Ports was the introduction of the first ever Rosé Port in 2008 (Croft Pink), super luxury Aged Tawnies in 2010 (Taylor’s Scion) and Ready to Drink canned Ports with tonic water in 2021 (Taylor’s Chip Dry and Tonic and Croft Pink and Tonic).
However, the development of the luxury wine hotel The Yeatman in 2010 was probably the project most associated with Adrian who was involved in all aspects of its creation. This has been eclipsed by the ambitious World of Wine that opened in July 2020 and is a new cultural center with 7 Experiences/Museums, restaurants, retail, wine bar, wine school and bean to bar chocolate factory.
The Fladgate Partnership is the holding company for all these activities and where Adrian serves as President and CEO.
Adrian created The Porto Protocol in 2018 which is a global initiative to get wineries to help tackle climate change. He is also involved in a number of other charitable activities.
Adrian is a partner in Unlock Boutique Hotels which operates 15 locations across Portugal.
He is married to Natasha and has three adult children.