Bruce Duncan Guimaraens was a port wine

Port wine

Port wine is a Portuguese fortified wine produced exclusively in the Douro Valley in the northern provinces of Portugal. It is typically a sweet, red wine, often served as a dessert wine, and comes in dry, semi-dry, and white varieties...

 maker

Born in Vila Nova de Gaia, Portugal on 27 October 1935, Bruce Guimaraens was the great-great-grandson of Manuel Pedro Guimaraens founder of the London house of the famous Fonseca Port

Fonseca Guimaraens

Fonseca Guimaraens, often simply called Fonseca, is one of the largest Port wine houses in Portugal. Manuel Pedro Guimarães established the company in 1822 when he acquired control of the Fonseca and Montiero Company from the Fonseca Family by purchase of the majority of Fonseca owned shares...

 firm in 1822. His father was Charles Guimaraens, Managing Director of W&J Graham Ltd and his elder brother Gordon was Production Director of Cockburn's Port House

Cockburn's Port House

Cockburn’s Port is a port producer in Portugal.It started as a family-owned business and went through 48 years of ownership by various large corporations before returning to private family ownership in 2010 as part of Symington Family Estates.- History :...

.

In 1949 the family-owned house of Fonseca was purchased by Taylor, Fladgate, and Yeatman.

Guimaraens was educated at Abingdon School

Abingdon School

Abingdon School is a British day and boarding independent school for boys situated in Abingdon, Oxfordshire , previously known as Roysse's School. In 1998 a formal merger took place between Abingdon School and Josca's, a preparatory school four miles to the west at Frilford...

 and served in the Gold Coast

Gold Coast (British colony)

The Gold Coast was a British colony on the Gulf of Guinea in west Africa that became the independent nation of Ghana in 1957.-Overview:The first Europeans to arrive at the coast were the Portuguese in 1471. They encountered a variety of African kingdoms, some of which controlled substantial...

, now Ghana, from 1953 to 1956 as a Lieutenant in the Royal West African Frontier Force

Royal West African Frontier Force

The West African Frontier Force was a multi-battalion field force, formed by the British Colonial Office in 1900 to garrison the West African colonies of Nigeria, Gold Coast, Sierra Leone and Gambia. The decision to raise this force was taken in 1897 because of concern at French colonial...

. In 1956 he joined Taylor-Fonseca and trained under Dick and Stanley Yeatman. Guimaraens became a full partner in the firm in 1961, assuming responsibility for Fonseca winemaking and vineyard management for the Taylor-Fonseca group.