Symington Family Estates is a

wine Wine is an alcoholic drink typically made from fermented grapes. Yeast consumes the sugar in the grapes and converts it to ethanol and carbon dioxide, releasing heat in the process. Different varieties of grapes and strains of yeasts are m ...

company and

Port wine Port wine (also known as vinho do Porto, , or simply port) is a Portuguese fortified wine produced in the Douro Valley of northern Portugal. It is typically a sweet red wine, often served with dessert, although it also comes in dry, semi- ...

house in

Portugal Portugal, officially the Portuguese Republic ( pt, República Portuguesa, links=yes ), is a country whose mainland is located on the Iberian Peninsula of Southwestern Europe, and whose territory also includes the Atlantic archipelagos of ...

, which owns and operates several

vineyard A vineyard (; also ) is a plantation of grape-bearing vines, grown mainly for winemaking, but also raisins, table grapes and non-alcoholic grape juice. The science, practice and study of vineyard production is known as viticulture. Vineyards ...

s and

wineries A winery is a building or property that produces wine, or a business involved in the production of wine, such as a wine company. Some wine companies own many wineries. Besides wine making equipment, larger wineries may also feature warehouses, b ...

and owns several

brand A brand is a name, term, design, symbol or any other feature that distinguishes one seller's good or service from those of other sellers. Brands are used in business, marketing, and advertising for recognition and, importantly, to create an ...

s of Port,

Madeira wine Madeira is a fortified wine made on the Portuguese Madeira Islands, off the coast of Africa. Madeira is produced in a variety of styles ranging from dry wines which can be consumed on their own, as an apéritif, to sweet wines usually consumed ...

and

Douro DOC Douro is a Portuguese wine region centered on the Douro River in the Trás-os-Montes e Alto Douro region. It is sometimes referred to as the ''Alto Douro'' (upper Douro), as it is located some distance upstream from Porto, sheltered by mountain r ...

wines, including some of the oldest and most well-known Port and Madeira brands. With their extensive vineyard holdings and many Port brands, the Symingtons are often described as being a "Port

empire An empire is a "political unit" made up of several territories and peoples, "usually created by conquest, and divided between a dominant center and subordinate peripheries". The center of the empire (sometimes referred to as the metropole) ex ...

". T. Stevenson ''"The Sotheby's Wine Encyclopedia"'' pg 338-339 Dorling Kindersley 2005 The companies owned by Symington Family Estates and individual family members together own 27 quintas (estates) in the Alto Douro region, and additionally lease one and operate one as a joint venture. These 25 quintas together have of vineyards. Over 70% of the Port wine sold by Symington-owned brands is produced from grapes from these vineyards. Together with these land holdings, the Symingtons are the largest vineyard ownership group in the Douro. The Symington family are members of the association

Primum Familiae Vini Primum Familiae Vini (often abbreviated PFV, Latin: "First Families of Wine") is an association of family-owned wineries with a membership limited to twelve families. History The association was established in 1993 by Miguel Torres and Robert ...

History

The company was founded by Andrew James Symington who arrived in

Oporto Porto or Oporto () is the second-largest city in Portugal, the capital of the Porto District, and one of the Iberian Peninsula's major urban areas. Porto city proper, which is the entire municipality of Porto, is small compared to its metropol ...

from

Scotland Scotland (, ) is a country that is part of the United Kingdom. Covering the northern third of the island of Great Britain, mainland Scotland has a border with England to the southeast and is otherwise surrounded by the Atlantic Ocean to the ...

in 1882, and initially joined

Graham's W. & J. Graham's, or simply Graham's, is a producer of port wine. It is one of the most important of the port names and it is necessary for Graham's to declare a vintage for the year to be considered vintage by the port industry. Founded in 1820 a ...

. In 1891 he married Beatrice Atkinson, who was descended from several generations of port wine shippers and producers, the oldest known of which was Walter Maynard, who is known to have shipped port wine already in 1652. By 1905, Andrew James Symington was a partner of Warre & Co and in 1912 he became a partner in Dow's Port. In 1970, the Symington family bought both Graham's and Smith Woodhouse. In 1989, the Symington family became a partner of the Madeira Wine Company (MWC), which at that time was controlled by the Blandy family behind Blandy's, one of the Madeira companies which had formed MWC. In 1989, the Symingtons also bought Quinta do Vesuvio, which they consider the finest Port quinta from the Ferreira family, which had run into economic troubles. This quinta was used to introduce a high end single- quinta port in the Symington range. From 1999, dry Douro wines were added to the Symington range, and in 2001, the prestige brand Chryseia was added.

Wineries and brands owned

The wineries and brands owned by Symington Family Estates are the following:Symington Family Estates: Our wines
accessed on December 25, 2009

Port wine

*Graham's (established in 1820) * Warre's * Dow's * Cockburn's * Smith Woodhouse * Quinta do Vesuvio * Gould Campbell * Quarles Harris *Martinez

Douro wine

*Chryseia *Altano *Quinta de Roriz Prazo de Roriz

Madeira wine

Through the Madeira Wine Company. *Blandy's *Cossart Gordon *Leacock's *Miles

References

External links

Official website
{{coord missing, Portugal Wineries of Portugal Port wine