Port Master Class with Paul Symington, CEO Symington Family Estates: Decanter Great Port Wine Weekend

I will use the Douro soil discussion from my previous post as a springboard to launch me back to Portugal and the events surrounding Decanter's Great Port Wine Weekend.  It has been awhile.  On Friday morning we were scheduled to tour and taste at both the Taylor's and Graham's Port Lodges.  The tasting at Graham's was led by Paul Symington, CEO of Symington Family Estates, and I report on that event in this post.

The Symingtons have been involved in the Port business through their grandmother's line since 1652 and in Port production since 1882.  The family is the largest vineyard owner in the Douro with 947 hectares under vine in 27 separate estates.  The family has direct ownership of five Port Houses (Graham's, Cockburn's, Dow's Warre's, and Smith Woodhouse) and the fabled Quinta do Vesuvio.  The family is currently responsible for 30% of the world's production of Premium Port.

Source: warres.com

After completing the tour of the Graham's Lodge, we were led upstairs to a light, airy room with a long table  running down the center.  Ten glasses, each with a tasting portion of wine, stood at each seating position.

According to the sheet lying beside the glasses, we would be tasting: Graham's Six Grapes, Graham's Late Bottled Vintage 2006, Graham's 10 Year Old Tawny, Graham's 20 Year Old Tawny, Graham's Crusted 2004, Graham's Quinta dos Malvedos 1999, Graham's 2007 Vintage Port, Dow's 2007 Vintage Port, Warre's 2007 Vintage Port, and Warre's 2009 Vintage Port.  Based on the lineup, this was a Graham's tasting with the Dow's and Warre's 2007 Vintage Ports thrown in for comparison with the 2007 Graham's Vintage Port.  The Warre's 2009 Vintage Port was a limited-edition bottling which commemorated the liberation of Oporto in 1809.

Graham's, with its acquisition of Quinta dos Malvedos, was one of the first Port companies to invest in the Upper Douro.  Today Graham's is considered one of the top Port houses in the world. Its complement of estates, their sizes, and the distribution of varieties grown are shown in the figures below.

Source: W. and J. Graham's Port

The characteristics of the Douro region, in general, and the soil, in particular, have been described previously, as has been the viniculture as it relates to Quinta do Vesuvio.  The vinicultural processes for Graham's is similar to Quinta do Vesuvio except for the widespread use of mechanical treaders in lieu of foot-treading.  Graham's feels that mechanical treading allows better temperature control during the fermentation process and is more reliable in a time of diminishing availability of human resources.

The first wine tasted was the Graham's Six Grapes.  According to Graham's, this wine is sourced from Quinta dos Malvedos and Quinta das Lages, the source for Vintage Port in declared years.  These wines are bottled young in order to present a profile that is not dissimilar to a young Vintage Port.  This wine has been aged in wood.  Pepper on the nose.  This wine is smooth, elegant, balanced with great structure and acidity.

Next up was the Graham's Late Bottled Vintage 2006.  LBVs mature for an average of 5 years in seasoned oak casks prior to bottling.  The grapes for this particular wine is sourced mostly from Quinta dos Malvedos.  This wine has a rich, structured, perfumed nose accompanying elegance and restraint.  Good acidity, caramel, butterscotch and a nice clean finish.

Graham's Tawny Ports, according to Paul Symington, are made in an "old woody style" through being aged in 534-liter oak casks.  The wines are a blend of several years production and generally present with a light amber color.  The 10 Year Old Tawny was pale in color and had hints of almond, cinnamon, honey and butterscotch on the nose.  Unctous and rich on the palate with great acidity.  Delicate, clean finish.  The 20 Year Old Tawny had a green tinge on the nose along with walnut, almond, cinnamon, and vanilla.  Some oxidation.  Rich, syrupy, slight medicinal quality, buttered popcorn, and nuttiness on the palate.

According to Graham's, its Crusted Port is made from a selection of young ports from two to three harvests from Quinta dos Malvedas, Quinta das Lages, Vila Velha, and Vale de Malhadas.  The wines are blended, assigned to oak casks, and are then bottled and stored for a further three years of maturation prior to sale.  The Graham's Crusted 2004 had a deep dark nose of purple fruit and molasses along with butterscotch and almonds.  A lot of fruit and power on the palate.  Good acidity.  Bitter finish.

In declared years, the wines from the Malvedos vineyard serve as the backbone for the Vintage but in non-vintage years they serve as the basis for a single-vineyard vintage offering called Graham's Quinta dos Malvedos.  The Graham's Quinta dos Malvedos 1999 had an elegant, restrained nose with hints of cinnamon, vanilla, and spice.  On the palate it was rich and creamy with dark chocolate flavors.

The 2007 Vintage was widely hailed by all members of the Port fraternity.  Conditions were sunny but relatively cool and the resultant even and balanced ripening produced, according to 2007 Vintage Ports, "... wonderfully elegant wines, with superb vibrant fruit quality as well as the crisp acidity and firm tannins required for a long life in bottle."  The Graham's 2007 Vintage Port was elegant, with rich ripe fruit.  Clean taste with some drying on the finish.  The Dow's 2007 Vintage Port was edgy and full-bodied.  Dark fruit and good acidity.  Warre's 2007 Vintage Port was elegant with a spicy bite and good acidity.

The year 2009 was very interesting in the Douro.  Taylor Fladgate declared vintages for Taylor, Fonseca, and Croft but Symington refrained from doing so for any of its major houses with the exception of one.  In an email exchange with Adrian Bridge, Managing Partner of Taylor Fladgate, Paul Symington referenced his family's pedigree in the Port trade and the reputation of his company as being key reasons for only declaring a vintage when he has produced a truly exceptional wine.  The implication was that such was not the case for the 2009 vintage.  In that same communication he did mention that the company would be declaring a 500-case Warre 2009 Vintage in honor of John Warre, a Major in the Portuguese wing of Wellington's Anglo-Portuguese army that faced Napolean, who played a key role in the 1809 battle that liberated Oporto.  A portion of the proceeds from each case (₤48) would be donated to a fund for soldiers wounded in the war in Afghanistan.  The Warre's 2009 Vintage Port exhibited a perfumed nose and dark fruit and dark chocolate on the palate.

This was a special treat in that it was supposed to be a tasting but quickly became a master class.  Paul's wide-ranging knowledge of the history of the region, the Port trade, and his wines, coupled with his tasting capability, resulted in an exceptional experience for the Decanter readers.

Quinta do Vesuvio (Douro, Portugal): Vinification

The terroir and viticulture at Quinta do Vesuvio were detailed in my most recent post.  The activities within the adega will be discussed herein.

As soon as enough for a tractor load has been picked, the grapes are trucked down from the vineyard to the adega.  Grapes are introduced into the winery through a door at the eastern end of the building where they are deposited onto a sorting table-cum-conveyor belt for a second level of selection.  The selected grapes are passed through a destemmer and then a crusher and are then gravity-flowed through a large-diameter hose into one of eight 24-pipe (13,200 liters) granite lagers (open stone tanks).

The objective of port wine fermentation is the rapid extraction of the maximum amount of flavor and color from the skin of the grape prior to attainment of a predetermined brix level.  For Quinta do Vesuvio, it is held that the most effective means of facilitating this goal is through foot-treading of the grapes.  This is a very ancient process which has been supplanted/supplemented by automatic processes in a number of quintas.  Teams of up to 50 people first tread the grapes in a two-hour march called the "cut" and then tread freestyle for an additional two-hours in a music-accompanied session called "liberdade."  Stainless steel radiators submerged in the lagers keep the fermentation temperatures within bounds.

Fermentation is initiated with innoculated must.  The cap is punched down with a wooden device called a macacos in order to keep the juice in contact with the skins.  The entire process of fermentation and maceration continues until a predetermined brix level is attained (about three days) after which fermentation is arrested by the addition of 20% by volume pure grape alcohol.

Quinta do Vesuvio offers a single quinta vintage port to the market .  This limited-production wine is estate-bottled and sold en primeur and will not be produced if conditions fall below certain levels.  The wine that is destined to be estate-bottled is gravity-flowed into large chestnut vats which have been a part of Vesuvio environment since 1827.  All other wine is stored in smaller casks until the next spring when they are shipped down river to the port lodges for storage and assignation.

Quinta do Vesuvio is truly an impressive estate.

Quinta do Vesuvio (Douro, Portugal): Terroir and Viticulture

So here we are at Quinta do Vesuvio, the jewel in the Symington Family Estates crown, and our home for the remainder of the weekend.  The Symington Family has been involved in port production in Portugal for over 350 years and today produces one-third of the world's fine ports under such iconic labels as Graham's, Cockburn's, Dow's, Warre's, Smith Woodhouse, and Quinta do Vesuvio.  In addition to port, the family produces Madeira and still (Douro DOC) wines.

The ride from the train station to our weekend home is a short 300 meters.  The vineyard stretches away in all its majesty up and out to our left and front.  The road from the train station merges into the road leading down from the vineyard to make its way under the train track.  A left turn brings us face to face with our home: the estate house.

The house is a white, three-storied, 19th-century structure that is separated from the river by a feeder road and with a longitudinal portion running east to west and a chapel attached to its western end.  It is endowed with 40 rooms and there is a large, open-air veranda running the length of the building which is memorable for the many special meals, aperitifs, and digestifs consumed therein by our team.  The building's size is hidden by the way in which it is presented to the viewer and its interior is quaintly furnished.  Bathrooms are ex-suite.

The region of which Quinta do Vesuvio is a part has been previously described.  The vast property, then known as Quinta das Fuguerias, was acquired by Antonio Bernardo Ferreira in 1823 and he immediately set about building a Douro showpiece.  Using up to 500 men at the peak, Ferreira completed a massive adega (winery) in four years and the repair of old terraces and development of new in 13 years.  At the completion of the effort Ferreira noted that the English of the day "... could not find another adega to match mine in the Douro."  The estate was passed on through marriage and widowhood to Dona Antonio Ferreira who continued to improve the Quinta and made it her base of operations.  The estate was converted to an olive estate after the phylloxera outbreak of the 1870s but was largely replanted to vine after the disease was brought under control.  The estate was acquired by the Symington family in 1989.

At dinner on Friday evening, Paul had promised us that we would be awakened at 6:00 am by the winery foreman dropping a gear as he made the turn by the house on his way to the adega.  So said, so done.  And it was loud in the piercing silence that is a part of this vast, underpopulated expanse.  So we tumbled out of bed, conducted our ablutions, and congregated on the veranda for a much-anticipated breakfast.

After breakfast we piled into vehicles driven by Paul and the viticulturist and drove up a steep, winding road which took us into the upper reaches of the estate.  It was awe-inspiring.  The view across the expanse of the estate and the estate across the river was breathtaking.  Then the vehicles stopped.  Paul jumped out, ducked under the vine wire and stepped out onto a narrow ledge (his wife drew her breath in sharply and refused to look further), and beckoned us to form a semi-circle around him.  He then began to tell us the story of Quinta do Vesuvio.

He reached down (oohs and aahs) and came back up with some rock fragments in his hand.  The soil, he explained, was schist, a metamorphic rock with a high mineral content, with some granite outcroppings.  As is the case for all soil above the Valeria gorge, the soil at Quinta do Vesuvio is alkaline (the soil below the gorge is acidic).  The specific vineyard in which we were congregated was called the Schoolhouse vineyard because a school for the vineyard workers had been located in this part of the estate.  The entire Quinta do Vesuvio estate is is 340 hectares, with 146 planted to vine, and is 3 kilometers from end to end.

The property is subjected to temperature extremes during the course of the year.  Winters are freezing cold and fog will sometimes come into the valley and block out sunlight for periods of up to two weeks.  Summers, on the other hand, are very hot with temperatures getting as high as 50 degrees C (122 degrees F).  Rainfall averages a low 400 mm per year.

The slopes are primarily north-facing, allowing the grapes to benefit from the luminosity of the sun without having to deal with the long, direct sunlight (in Douro heat) associated with south-facing slopes.  Elevation ranges from 180 meters at the waterline to 530 meters in the upper reaches of the estate.  Vines are trained single Guyot on hillside terraces with two rows of vines per terrace.  The Symingtons have been extremely agressive in their stewardship of the estate.  Between 1990 and 1991, they planted 61,500 vines and added 30 hectares (90,00 vines) of Touriga Nacional vineyards in pretty inhospitable terrain in 2003.  Terracing at Vesuvio is of the patamares (banked earthen walls) variety.

There are approximately 375,000 vines planted at Vesuvio: 33.8% Touriga Nacional; 19.6% Tinta Barroca; 18.5% Touriga Franca; 17.8% Tinta Roriz; 3% Tinto Amaral; 1.6% Sousao, .3% Tinta Cao; and 5% other.  The average age of the newest vines is 10 years while the older vines average 35 years.

Two treatments of fertilizers are conducted during the course of the year.  There is also spraying to prevent against odium and mildew.  "If you do not pay constant attention to your vines you can lose them," says Paul.

Grapes are hand harvested with first-level selection in the field.  Teams of pickers are brought in from far-away villages and are housed on the property for the duration of harvest.  Grapes are placed into bright blue containers which are stacked onto tractors and trucked down to the winery for immediate crushing.

My next post will discuss operations within the adega.

Travel to Quinta do Vesuvio (Douro Superior) by Rail: Decanter Great Port Wine Weekend

The March 2010 issue of Travel and Leisure described the ride on the Douro Line (Linho do Douro) as one of the 10 most scenic train rides in the world so it was with great anticipation that I set out to travel from Porto to Quinta do Vesuvio -- the Symington Family Estates property in Douro Superior -- as a part of Decanter's Great Port Wine Weekend.

The Douro Line runs between Porto and Pocinho, a town approximately 20 kilometers from the Spanish border.  The line is 160 kilometers long thanks to the enabling capabilities of 26 tunnels and 30 bridges  along its path.  The line was put into service in 1887 -- after a 12-year construction effort -- in order to speed up the carriage of Port wine, other goods, and passengers between Porto and the stops along the way.  At its inception, the journey from Pocinho to Porto was cut from 12 days to 5 hours.

Our day in Vila de Gaia had begun with tours of the Taylor's and Graham's Port Lodges, followed by a masterful Port wine Masterclass led by Paul Symington, CEO of Symington Family Estates, and lunch at the Symington Family Estates Executive Offices.  We were scheduled to travel by train to Quinto do Vesuvio where we would be spending Friday and Saturday nights.  With all of our scheduled activities, and the interest that these generated among our team members, we were perilously close to missing the train for which we had reservations.  We said hurried goodbyes and got into our waiting rides for a pell mell trip through Oporto streets to the Campanhã train station.

We arrived at the station and hurriedly disembarked, snatched up our luggage and headed for the platform.  One of the Symington staffers had ridden along with us to ensure that we went directly to the appropriate platform.  We helped each other get the luggage onto the train.  I cursed my wife under my breath (she has never met a jumbo-sized suitcase that she doesn't like) as I struggled to get her "weekender" aboard the train.  There were no luggage racks inside the passenger compartment so we stacked the suitcases in the loading areas outside the compartment (There was some overhead space within the compartment for small items.).  We made our way into the carriage and plunked ourselves into the seats that had not already been claimed by early-arriving passengers.  Shortly after we collapsed exhausted into our individual seats, the train moved out.

Our schedule called for us to leave Porto at 3:20 pm and travel to Régua, making a number of stops along the way.  We would arrive at Régua at 5:05 pm at which time we would be told whether we would have to change out trains for the remainder of the journey to Vesuvio, the stop for Quinto do Vesuvio.  We were scheduled to leave Régua at 5:30 pm and arrive at Vesuvio at 6:39 pm where Paul Symington -- who had gone ahead by car to make arrangements for our arrival -- would meet us.

It took me a while to stop breathing heavily (after my encounter with my wife's luggage) and take stock of my surroundings. Having boarded the train in a rush, I had not had the luxury of being strategic in my seat selection. I was facing away from the direction of travel and had limited visibility of the scenery to my right and even less so on my left.  So here I was, beginning one of the most scenic train rides in the world, and having no view.  A punch in the gut.  I would have to figure something out.  But not now.  I needed more resuscitation time.  I did have an excellent view of our carriage and noted that it seemed occupied by locals with members of the Decanter team sprinkled randomly throughout the carriage.

For the first (what I found out later to be) 60 kilometers, the scenery was pedestrian but this all changed when the line met the river at Mosteiro where it travels west to east along the river on its north bank.  We were sitting on the side of the train furthest from the river and saw everyone looking out and up.  My backward facing seat was not getting the job done for me.  After a few kilometers of fleeting glances of this scenery as it fled into the distance, I got out of my seat and went on the platform outside the passenger compartment in order to gain an unobstructed view.  This was a great move until I found out that this was also the access point for the onboard bathroom which, when flushed, flooded on to the floor inside and outside the bathroom.  I beat a hasty retreat.

There were a number of stops between Mosteiro and Régua and, at each stop, people would disembark and be replaced by new passengers.  But between each stop we were treated to kilometer after kilometer of beautifully terraced vineyards rising from the river's edge and working their way up the slopes to the tree line; and if the hill were below a certain height, along its crest.  Where vineyards were not planted, olive groves abounded.  In many cases they were interspersed.  In cases where vines or olive trees were not planted, the tree line reached down to the waters edge.  Or a forest of rocks.  At some points along the way a roadway paralleled the river.    The river itself is fairly tranquil and its even disposition and height sets it in stark contrast to the sometimes rocky, sometimes craggy, sometimes terraced hillsides that frame it along its entire length.

At Régua we found out that we would not have to change trains after all (This was a relief as I wanted to delay re-tangling with my wife's "weekender" for as long as possible.).  Régua had been a very important stop in the olden days as the town had been the capital of the Port wine trade.  Another important stop along the way is Pinhão.  This station is decorated with blue and white glazed tiles (azauelos) which depict local river and harvest scenes.

Source: Railbrit.co.uk

Source: Railbrit.co.uk

Source: Railbrit.co.uk

Shortly after leaving the Alegria stop, we see an imposing granite formation, the signature of the Valeria Canyon.  The longest tunnel on the line (712 m) had to be blasted through the granite to allow passage of the rail line.  Passage through this tunnel gets us into Douro Superior, the region that is home to Quinta do Vesuvio.  And four stops later we arrive at our destination.  We are the only ones to get off at the station.  And then it hits me.  This stop is expressly for the use of this estate.  Paul is there to meet us.  He has shed his corporate trappings and is now attired in blue jeans and a land rover.  The look of gentleman farmer fits him.  He welcomes us and then sets about loading our luggage into the vehicles.  We rush in to help.

Oh and about the trip.  It is the most scenic train ride I have ever taken.

Tour of The Factory House (Porto, Portugal) and Dinner: Decanter Great Port Wine Weekend

The second official item on the Decanter Great Port Wine Weekend itinerary was a tour of The Factory House in Porto and an in-place dinner.  Before getting to the tour and dinner, a brief review of The Factory House is in order. 

According to the literature, in 1827, the British Port shippers formed an association called The Factory House whose express purpose was promoting their interests and defending their priveleges.  A structure to house the association was designed and built in the neo-Palladian style (following on the work of the Venetian architect Andrea Palladio 1508-1580) by the British Consul John Whitehead with construction completed in 1790.  The Factory House was closed in 1807 when the French invaded Portugal and was reconstituted in 1810 as the British Association, an organization limited to British Port wine shippers. The building was re-opened in 1811 to house the new organization. Today the British Association functions solely as a private club of the Port wine shippers and has 10 male and one (new) female members.

Our transportation the The Factory House was scheduled for 7:15 pm and we were picked up at that time and transported to our destination without incident.  We were welcomed outside the building by Paul Symington, CEO Symington Family Estates, and Nick Heath, Marketing Director, Taylor Fladgate and Yeatman.  We were ushered into the building foyer where the tour was kicked off with a very warm welcome from these two gentlemen.

According to Paul, The Factory House was built in 1790 and was maintained by merchant contributions which varied in relation to the value of a member's exports.  The British Association currently has three sustaining companies.

One of the prized possessions of The Factory House is the first detailed map of the Douro region drawn by Baron Joseph James Forrester 160 years ago.  The map shows the river and quintas from San Joao da Foz near the Atlantic coast to Barca d'Alva close to the Spanish border.  Baron Forrester was a formidable cartographer and photographer who drowned in the river when his boat hit the rapids and capsized.  While alive he had been opposed to fortification of the Douro wine and it is likely that his death eased the way for the advancement of that process.  A 21st century edition of the Forrester map by English artist David Eley was introduced to the public in a ceremony held at the Yeatman Hotel on March 3, 2011.

Port shippers were British and sought every opportunity to remind themselves of that fact and to keep as tight a link as possible to the motherland.  The practice of all families was to school kids in Portugal up to a certain age and then to send them to England to complete their education and acculturation (a practice that is still followed to this day).  The Factory House was a key manifestation of that Britishness.  The furnishings and color schemes are reminiscent of a British gentleman's club of yore and, as you walk through the structure, you are transported back to the days when members would congregate here to do business, catch up on the news, read papers of the day, and have lunch.  Paul indicated that they had copies of the Times going back over 100 years and on their traditional Wednesday lunches, copies of the paper for that same date 100 years ago are pulled out for members to read.  As an aside he mentioned that the same issues we are wrestling with today were being discussed and debated 100 years ago.

Beginning in the 1820s, a library of English books was established at The Factory House to meet the reading needs of the British families living in and around Porto.  A fiction library was established initially and books were acquired as published based on librarian perception of need, reader requests, or London book agent initiative.  Over the next 70 years the collection grew to over 1000 books.  As the number of families declined and reader tastes changed, many of the earliest books were moved to shelves and back rooms to make way for more current material.  According to University of Tulsa McFarlane Library, this old fiction library built between 1820 and 1890 lay forgotten until rediscovered in the 1970s.  This 2500-volume, 1000-title library now resides at the University of Tulsa.  Notwithstanding this fact, The Factory House is still endowed with an extensive library which, according to Paul, is the most valuable item in its inventory.  The collection was recently assessed and valued by an English company flown in for that express purpose.

The member's penchant for locking things up and then forgetting about them was once again on display as we were toured through a fully equipped period kitchen.  According to Paul, someone had apparently walked out and closed the door to the kitchen and it was forgotten; lost in its own house.  But what a gain for us.  We were able to see a working kitchen as it functioned rather than the way some curator thought that the pieces might have been arranged.

One can imagine the types of parties that were thrown here based on the splendor of the ballroom and the extensive collection of dance cards on display.

At the conclusion of the tour we were led into a salon for aperitifs and butler-passed hors d'oeuvres.  Dinner was a two-room affair with the major courses in the formal dining room and the cheese course in the Port Room.

The menu for the evening's dinner was as follows:

• Course 1: Scallop Tartar with Prawns and Avocado Puree; paired with Symington Family Estates Altano 2010 Douro DOC Branco
• Course 2: Beef Tournedo with Sauteed Potatoes and Vegetables; paired with Symington Family Estates Chryseia 2008 Douro DOC 
• Course 3: Trilogy of Traditional Portuguese Puddings with Lemon Sorbet; paired with Taylor's 20 Year Old Tawny
• Cheese Course: Serra and Ilhas Cheese; paired with Graham's 1970 Vintage Port

I sat next to Paul Symington for dinner and thus began three days of intensive education at his hands regarding the history of his family, the land, the business, and his blood.  Because all of this is in his blood.