Historia
The firm was founded in 1865 by two young Norwegians, Theodor Wiese and Dankert Krohn. Over the following century and a half the firm built up an outstanding reputation for its old cask-aged Ports, in particular its ‘colheitas’ or single harvest tawnies. Krohn is also noted for its finely-constituted Vintage Ports sourced from its flagship property Quinta do Retiro Novo in the Rio Torto Valley.
At the beginning, Wiese & Krohn was a very small firm, based on the export of Port Wine to the Scandinavian markets and to Germany.
In 1880 Theodor Wiese decided to sell his share to Dankert Krohn – the Company was simply too small to be shared by two owners – but he went on working for W&K as a commercial agent in Norway. Due to his excellent work, sales were largely increased and the company entered a new period of economic progress.
On the death of Dankert Krohn in 1906 the business was continued by the widow and daughters of the founder, along with two employees, Gomes Figueiredo and Edmund Arnsby, the former a Portuguese bookkeeper and the latter a British manager.
During this period, the firm extended its commercial activity to new markets, such as France, Belgium and the Netherlands. Gomes Figueiredo retired in 1921 when Edmund Arnsby acquired the share of the Krohn family and took as new partners his brother Frederick – an experienced Port taster who came from the House of Croft – and Edmundo Falcão Carneiro, a Portuguese export manager who had been working for the firm since 1910. Edmund Arnsby died in 1933 and his brother Frederick retired four years later. Edmundo Falcão Carneiro acquired their shares and thus gave origin to an entirely Portuguese owned Port company.
In 2013, The Fladgate Partnership, acquired the family owned Port firm of Wiese & Krohn, adding another distinguished Port house to its portfolio of world renowned Port brands and its acquisition further strengthens The Fladgate Partnership’s position as the leading producer of aged tawny Ports.