Justino’s is Madeira’s heavyweight: by most accounts the island’s largest producer, and often the first Madeira a newcomer tastes. Founded in 1870, it has ridden out the trade’s booms and busts to make everything from accessible young blends to long-aged wines.
Its global reach serves beginner and enthusiast alike, and it proves that scale and tradition need not be enemies: for all its size, Justino’s still relies on the heat, oxidation and time that define Madeira.
In a Nutshell
- Founded: 1870
- Location: Caniço, Madeira (Portugal)
- Owner: La Martiniquaise (France)
- Website: justinosmadeira.com
- House style: A broad range, from young blends to long-aged wines
- Known for: Large-scale production and international distribution
What’s on this page
1. Origin Story of Justino’s
2. Ownership & Evolution
3. Production & Winemaking
4. Wines to Know
5. Visiting Justino’s
6. Interesting Facts
7. Related Madeira Wine Producers
8. FAQs About Justino’s
1. Origin Story of Justino’s
Justino’s arrived in 1870, in the lull between two disasters. Oidium had ravaged the vineyards from the 1850s, and phylloxera would strike in the 1870s. The firm grew up with the island’s slow recovery through replanting and restructuring.
It belonged to a new breed of shipper: structured companies that managed production, ageing and export, rather than the small merchant traders who had dominated before. And like Madeira itself, it looked overseas from the start, because that was where the buyers were.
Justino’s timeline highlights
- 1870: Founded as a small family-owned shipper, Vinhos Justino Henriques.
- 1930s: Brazil is the main export market.
- 1940s–1950s: After difficulties in Brazil, the firm builds a market in Canada.
- Early 1960s: Ownership fragments among family descendants, eventually leading to a sale.
- 1981: Sigfredo da Costa Campos buys the company and begins a major turnaround.
- 1993: French drinks group La Martiniquaise takes a major stake.
- 1994: Production moves from central Funchal to a purpose-built winery in the Cancela industrial park at Caniço.
- 2009: Following Costa Campos’s death in 2008, La Martiniquaise takes full ownership.
- 2010: La Martiniquaise becomes the main shareholder of Henriques & Henriques, putting the two houses under one owner.
2. Ownership & Evolution
Justino’s has grown from a traditional shipping house into a modern wine company, adapting to new techniques and tastes, and outlasting the loss of Madeira’s historic export markets to see fortified wine come back into fashion.
As the 20th century brought consolidation, better quality control and stricter rules on production, ageing and labelling, Justino’s kept its export focus while broadening its range for different markets. La Martiniquaise’s distribution network then made France its main market and Justino’s the island’s biggest producer.
3. Production & Winemaking
Justino’s follows the island’s traditional methods: fermentation, fortification with grape spirit, then heat and oxygen, which together make Madeira about as stable and long-lived as wine gets.
The heat comes in two forms. Estufagem warms the wine in tanks for at least three months, a shortcut developed to mimic the effect of long ageing; it works well for younger wines. Canteiro is the slow road: years in cask in warm lofts, where the complexity of top-quality Madeira builds. Both recreate, more conveniently, the conditions of the long tropical sea voyages that first revealed Madeira’s character.
Grapes come from hundreds of growers, chiefly around Câmara de Lobos and São Vicente. Tinta Negra, Madeira’s red workhorse, underpins much of the range, while the four classic white varieties supply the sweetness spectrum: Sercial (dry), Verdelho (medium-dry), Bual (medium-sweet) and Malvasia (sweet).
4. Wines to Know
3 Year Old Madeira
The entry point, usually made by estufagem: an affordable introduction to Madeira’s oxidative flavours.
5 Year Old Madeira
Often labelled Reserve. Sweetness and acidity are better knit, with more developed nutty, caramel notes.
10 Year Old Madeira
A real step up, with the layered character of longer ageing: dried fruit, spice and pronounced oxidative aromas.
Grape Variety Wines
Varietal bottlings of Sercial, Verdelho, Bual and Malvasia let you taste the whole Madeira ladder, from dry to richly sweet.
5. Visiting Justino’s
Justino’s publishes no visitor information, and its website was under construction when checked in October 2026. The winery sits in the Cancela industrial park at Caniço, east of Funchal, and is built for production rather than tourists, so contact the company before you go.
6. Interesting Facts
- Born between disasters: founded in 1870, after oidium and just before phylloxera.
- Big by Madeira standards: before his death in 2008, owner Sigfredo da Costa Campos claimed Justino’s made and exported about half the island’s wine.
- Easy to find: it is one of the most widely distributed Madeira brands in the world.
- The full spectrum: its range runs from dry Sercial to rich Malvasia.
- Under another name: Justino’s has made the Broadbent Madeira range for Bartholomew Broadbent.
- A mirror of the trade: its path from merchant shipper to global brand traces Madeira’s own.
7. Related Madeira Wine Producers
A long-established house with a similarly wide range, from accessible to aged wines. It now shares an owner with Justino’s.
Another 19th-century house, with a comparable mix of traditional and commercial production.
Smaller, more innovative and quality-driven: the natural counterpoint to Justino’s scale.
The other giant, home to historic brands including Blandy’s, Cossart Gordon, Leacock’s and Miles, and a major force in the export trade.
8. FAQs About Justino’s
When was Justino’s founded?
In 1870, as the island’s wine trade was rebuilding.
Where is Justino’s located?
At Caniço, on Madeira’s south coast, just east of Funchal.
What styles of Madeira wine does Justino’s produce?
Everything from dry Sercial to sweet Malvasia, plus age-indicated blends.
How does Justino’s age its Madeira wine?
By estufagem for younger wines and by long cask ageing (canteiro) for more complex ones.
Can you visit Justino’s?
It publishes no visiting arrangements, so check with the producer before you go.