As you may have heard already, Wine Spectator’s No. 1 wine this year is Dow’s Vintage Port 2011, a port made by Symington family, a member of Primum Familiae Vini, the leading Wine Families in the World (Marchesi Antinori, Château Mouton Rothschild, Joseph Drouhin, Egon Müller Scharzhof, Hugel & Fils, Champagne Pol Roger, Famille Perrin, Tenuta San Guido, Torres and Vega-Sicilia). In fact, two other portuguese wines made the Top 10 with the 2011 Chryseia at No. 3 and the 2011 Quinta Do Vale Meao Douro at No. 4. And guess what? Symington Family is also involved in the 2011 Douro Chryseia with the Prats Family.
The Symingtons have been Port producers for five generations since 1882 but they can trace their family’s involvement in the Port trade back fourteen generations to 1652 through their ancestor Beatrice Atkinson. Symington Family Estates is the only leading Port company in the hands of one family. Five members of the family work together, caring for the vineyards and the wine making for four of the greatest Port houses; Graham’s, Cockburn’s, Dow’s and Warre’s. And, this year, the Dow’s Vintage Port 2011 crowned the TOP 100 list with a nice comment from judges: “In 2011, port surged to remarkable heights of quality, with some vintners declaring it the best vintage in 50 years. The Dow’s Vintage Port 2011 was the highest-scoring wine of the vintage at 99 points.”
The Symingtons also own five small specialist Port houses including the legendary Quinta do Vesuvio, Portugal’s greatest wine estate. The family’s Port companies account for over 30% of world sales of Premium Port, making them the leading quality Port producers. The family is by far the largest owner of vineyards in the historic Douro Valley, with a magnificent collection of 25 Quintas comprising 1,769 hectares (4,370 acres) of land with 940 hectares (2,322 acres) of vineyard. Many of the Douro’s greatest vineyards belong to the family: Quinta do Vesuvio, Malvedos, Bomfim, Cavadinha, Sra Ribeira, Tua, Canais, Retiro and Roriz (the latter together with the Prats of Bordeaux). The family is unique amongst all the leading Port companies in that the Symington family directors also own and farm their own vineyards.
The Symington family has led the way in innovation with research in Douro viticulture and the development of the robotic treading lagares, the most significant advance in the production of premium quality Ports in half a century. The Symingtons are amongst the pioneers who are developing the great red DOC wines of the Douro, producing such wines as Chryseia (with the Prats family), Quinta do Vesuvio and the Altano range. Chryseia was the first Portuguese wine ever to appear on the Wine Spectator list of the 100 Best Wines of the World.And the 2011 vintage came at the third place this year. Parabéns (means congratulations in portuguese) to the Symington Family!
Watch an interview on FoxNews where Rupert Symington talks about his family’s rich history of port making and the best ways to pair it with thanksgiving desserts.
(Write to VitaBella info@vitabella.fr)
