Door Aad van der Werf

Thursday 29 September is the last day of the vintage 2005 at Graham’s Quinta dos Malvedos. Although the expectation beforehand - because of the severe drought - was quite low, the total produced quantity of port will be of the same order as in 2004. The grapes this year may be small, the compensation however comes from a very good grape to juice ratio. Despite all on-going activities I have the opportunity to ask a few questions to Paul Symington, joint managing director of the Symington Family Estates, at the terrace majestically overlooking the Douro River.

Apart from this years’ vintage, one gets the impression that a lot is going on in the region.
“ It is almost a revolution. We call it the New Douro. To make a good red wine over here, you need to change your mind. It is not like with port a question of extraction. Our yields are around 20 hl/ha (half of Bordeaux), the climate and soil are completely different. So we have very low yields and small berries. In the past that resulted in hard red wines. And by the time the tannins were soft, the fruitiness had gone. Now we produce Chryseia and Altano, and it gives us a lot of pleasure. Although port is our main business, we produce, if possible, a good red wine and enjoy producing it.”

Would it be possible to expand that way on your quinta vintage ports?
“ It has to be a fantastic wine anyhow and indeed it would be interesting to think of Quinta do Vesuvio, but we already have Chryseia now, so let’s do one at a time.”

Talking about port wines, do you think it will still be possible to increase sales in the Netherlands, bearing in mind that Holland has the highest consumption in Europe per head with 1, 4 bottles per year?
“ For us future growth needs to come from the special categories. It is difficult to compete in the 3 euro category.”

What is your opinion on the latest developments with respect to the benefício (the quantity of must allowed to be fortified to port, which was down again on the previous year, after a slight increase last year), and the stocks of the Casa do Douro?
“ In Portugal there exists a separation between Lisbon and Oporto. Here we are ‘tras-os-montes/behind the mountains’, far away from Lisbon. It is all about votes for political parties. But we are no politicians, we are making wines. The Casa do Douro unfortunately built up a debt of more than 100 million euro, and now needs to sell wines. Of course the best would be to sell their wines over a 20 years period, to avoid prices to go down. Recently they auctioned 2.500 pipes (1 pipe is 550 l.). However, only we bought 50 pipes of 20 year old tawny, and Rozès 40 pipes of 6 year old white, that was all. We wanted to make it clear that there is no boycott by the companies. We believe that there are solutions.” Big picture interview: click here

Do you believe the benefício system will maintain itself in the future?
“ The system needs reform. We should however be careful not to end up with a situation like in the sherry region. I am myself born in Portugal and studied in England. When I returned to Portugal in 1979 sales of sherry were 14 million cases. Nowadays sales of sherry are, with 7 million cases, only half of that. (Total worldwide sales of port during 2004 reached 10, 3 million cases (of 9 l.) The reform could be a regulation by hl/ha. Please bear in mind that there is a natural limit to production in this region. We are ourselves producers and know that all too well. But even Quinta dos Malvedos does not get 100 % benefício, so part of it has to be still wine in stead of port.

The company uses the designation Symington Family Estates nowadays. Are you going to use that more actively?
“ Six members of the family are personally involved and I can assure you that managing seven wineries sometimes is a bit of a nightmare. The family designation is to be used for the trade. We also want to keep all the brands alive (Graham’s, Dow’s, Warre’s, Quinta do Vesuvio, Smith Woodhouse, Gould Campbell, Quarles Harris). Our strategy is even copied by other companies.

How do you look at the future of the market?
“ Because of low yield and high cost, I do not see a growth for us in the cheap aperitif market (3-4 euro). We are concentrating on premium quality wines. The region will further change in the next 10 to 15 years.”

And how will the future competition look like?
“ There will probably be some more consolidation, with premium companies like us and small specialists like Crasto and Churchill.”

“Four of the six partners of the family have their own vineyards. We invest in the region and do not buy a villa in the Algarve. It is a proof that we love the region. We show our commitment to the Douro region.”

Vintage time is a busy time. Paul’s high speed boat takes him in only 10 minutes from Graham’s Quinta dos Malvedos to Dow’s Quinta do Bomfim, where the vintage of 2005 has not yet come to an end. Big picture Paul Symington: click here

Aad van der Werf

Big picture river: click here

Further backgrounds in Dutch:
http://www.wijnplein.nl/oogstport2005_1.php
http://www.wijnplein.nl/portugal2005_douro_droogte1.php