With the expansion of his exports beyond the port of Ambriz, the demands began to be too much for just one entrepreneur.

It was on the 23rd of the first month of 1898 that Francisco Ribeiro de Carvalho sealed his bond with Manuel Joaquim Ribeiro, forming the partnership Carvalho & Ribeiro and a friendship that, although unknown to them at the time, would last a lifetime.

This partnership had a share capital of 13,043.780 réis (old currency; equivalent to 1,000 Escudos), half of which belonged to each partner.

With a steadily increasing turnover, Joaquim Nunes Ferreira joined this unique friendship. The steadfast commitment between these three friends is reflected in the name by which this story is still known today: Carvalho, Ribeiro & Ferreira – CR&F.

At an ever-increasing pace, the company extended its sales to Mozambique, Macao, Brazil and all the French and English colonies. The Azores and Madeira completed the network of transactions.

And because when the family grows, the home also grows, this was the year when a new warehouse was built in Carregado. An innovative winery that represented a major leap in innovation in the alcoholic beverages industry in Portugal, employing state-of-the-art technology. In Carregado, large cellars with a capacity of 6 million litres, the distillery and the warehouses delighted those who visited them. Carvalho, Ribeiro & Ferreira was an open house.

Visitors were only asked to sign the Golden Book. Leading figures visited the house. The Prime Minister of Southern Rhodesia, the Chief of Protocol of Foreign Affairs, the Secretary of National Defence, the Consulate of Monaco are just a few examples written in the Golden Book.

The brand saw the birth of the first bottle of CR&F Brandy Reserve.

The obsession for perfection and attention to detail were distinctive features of the whole Carvalho, Ribeiro & Ferreira team, and all the analyses performed daily were recorded in specific reports

In addition to brandies, the CR&F's "cellar" wines were also produced in Carregado.

The famous Campari and Bols Liqueurs were also produced here, the former under and Italian licence and the latter under a Dutch licence.

Production was at its highest. Four million bottles of wine were waiting for the necessary time for ageing – about 4 to 5 years until they could be classified as "cellar" and sent to their final destination.

By this time, around 4 4,000 litres of Reserve brandy were also being produced and around 400,000 litres of the 1920 brand, also very famous within the house of Carvalho, Ribeiro & Ferreira.

After the floods that devastated Lisbon that year, the empty bottles that were about to enter the filling lines were left floating in the basement of Carvalho, Ribeiro & Ferreira. The overwhelming passion and unity led the employees to clean the bottles, one by one, recovering with them all the brand's memories.

Since 1970, thanks to a partnership with a factory in Marinha Grande, Carvalho, Ribeiro & Ferreira had been selling an older brandy, launched every year in a crystal bottle. Since its production was very limited, the brand's consumers, who could anticipate its launch, used to buy it in advance to ensure they had a bottle each year.

A large number of bottles of CR&F Brandy Reserve was bottled for the exclusive use of the Military. It was yet another milestone in its history, which contributed to the number of enthusiasts that the brand has today in its home country and abroad.

The brand saw the birth of the first bottle of CR&F Brandy Reserve Extra.

The labels were produced manually with tailor's scissors, while the bottles were produced by blowing, delighting all the house visitors and friends, who insisted on having a personalised bottle with their name on, signed by the main cellar keeper.

100 years of history marked by the acquisition of the company by Costa Pina, and its subsequent transference to Allied Domecq.

But the legacy remains, such as the joint signature of the three founders, which is still used on every bottle today.

A natural selection of brands and production was made, and the focus on brandies was the final decision, as it was a business on the rise. For this reason, production moved to Vila Nova de Gaia, an area of the country with the best conditions for ageing brandies.

The brand was bought by a multinational in the beverage industry. One of the conditions of this transaction was simple: maintaining the standards of quality and excellence to which Carvalho, Ribeiro & Ferreira had accustomed its national and international consumers. Everything was maintained and the brand thus continued to build its legacy.

The history of CR&F is once again written in Portuguese at the hands of João Portugal Ramos, who, in 2016, made one of the largest transactions in the sector in Portugal. The enormous experience of the group in the wine sector, its innovation strategy and the constant improvement of production techniques have provided CR&F with the perfect synergies.

The top priority is still to bring people together around a great brandy, handing down the legacy from generation to generation, and rendering this story timeless.

In an atypical year, the brand once again shows its resilience and reiterates the message that "it's worth waiting for", with the launch of a new brandy 40 years after its last innovation. It thus celebrates 125 years of history together with its main enthusiasts around the world by sharing the launch of 1895 numbered bottles of an XO brandy that dates back to its origins in the Lisbon region.

The resilience of a Portuguese brand, which is now present in over 20 countries and wishes to continue sharing the legacy of Portuguese brandies around the world.