SAN FRANCISCO, Calif., October 22, 2020 – Symington Family Estates, producers of some of the finest Ports in the world for five generations and owners of the renowned Port brands W. & J. Graham’s, Cockburn’s, Dow’s and Warre’s has released its 2020 harvest report alongside a special digital exhibition, “The People Behind the Harvest,” featuring 45 portraits taken by a photographer-in-residence at the Symington’s Quinta da Senhora da Ribeira. In the “Grit and Reward” report, winemaker Charles Symington outlines the challenges and rewards the esteemed Port producer faced in the rugged Douro Valley of Portugal this year.
Opening the report, Symington reflects on the challenges of 2020 and tenacity of the Douro community: “The first people to carve vineyards into the mountainsides of the Douro Valley did so with incredible determination, effort, and grit. And so, it is no surprise that today’s generation of Douro grape farmers and harvest workers, viticulturists and winemakers responded to the challenge of adapting to the Covid-19 restrictions with quiet competence and equanimity. At the same time, they successfully navigated yet another vintage defined by the ever-more-present tests that the climate crisis is throwing at us.”
Highlights of the report include details on the “precocious growing cycle” and “worrying signs of warming” as bud break occurred three weeks earlier than usual and flowering two weeks earlier than normal. Temperatures recorded at the Symington’s Quinta do Bomfim property in Pinhão show every month except April warmer than the 30 year trend. July was the hottest on record and the region experienced heat waves from June to September, all indicating the overall threat of climate change to the region. The region experienced sufficient rainfall during the growing season, but there was no rain all summer until late August; this gain was offset by subsequent temperature spikes, threatening dehydration of the fruit.
The early growing cycle gave way to an early harvest, on August 25th for the white varieties and September 1st for the reds. While Symington comments on how the indigenous varieties of the Douro withstood the heat well, the harvest period was complicated by many varieties all requiring to be picked at the same time: “This year’s conditions saw varieties that usually ripen sequentially, needing picking at the same time. This was particularly so with the typically late-ripening Touriga Franca, which we decided to pick at the same time as the Touriga Nacional. This is not a common occurrence.”
The need to “juggle the picking schedule” prevailed throughout the Douro Valley where the majority of vineyards are harvested manually. As a result, demand for labor was high, but was balanced by the yield being much smaller than normal, down as much as 40% at some properties. Symington remarks, “The Douro is a low-yielding region even in the bumper years, but 2020 has brought us an especially small crop. In some locations in the Douro Superior we were harvesting only 400g per vine [Less than a 1 lb.] . Quinta dos Malvedos, the primary vineyard of Graham’s, averaged just 600g per vine.” [1.3 lbs.]
Like every other wine region in the world this year, the 2020 harvest in the Douro Valley occurred during the unpresented circumstances of Covid-19. This was the first year that Symington Family Estates did not foot-tread grapes at Quinta do Vesuvio since the family acquired it in 1989 (and very likely the first year no grapes were foot-tread there since it was founded in 1827).
Symington concludes his report on a positive note, commenting “our reward for these challenges has been that the unsettling low yields resulted in some incredibly concentrated and dark wines. My first impressions – confirmed by subsequent tastings – were of particularly promising lagares with balanced Baumés. A comparable harvest is 2009, which was also a very dry and hot year, with low yields that nonetheless delivered small quantities of intense, well-structured wines and Ports.” Symington remarks that “the stand-out varietal of the 2020 harvest has been the Touriga Nacional which has produced wines with excellent structure and good acidity. This is remarkable given the conditions.”
To read the full report visit:
https://www.symington.com/
About Symington Family Estates — The Symingtons of Scottish, English and Portuguese descent have been Port producers in northern Portugal since 1882. For five generations they have combined their passion for producing premium Ports and wines with a deep commitment to the region’s land and people. Today ten Symingtons work across their four famous Port houses – Graham’s, Cockburn’s, Dow’s and Warre’s – as well as their Douro wine projects – Quinta do Vesuvio, Quinta do Ataíde, Altano and Prats & Symington (of Chryseia fame) – and a new venture, Quinta da Fonte Souto in the Alto Alentejo.
Symington Family Estates is a leading premium Port producer and the family is the leading vineyard owners in the Douro Valley, with 26 Quintas covering 5,527 acres and 2,530 acres of vineyard. Their vineyards are managed under sustainable viticulture practices and 276 acres are organically farmed, the largest area of organic vineyards in the Douro. In 2019 Symington Family Estates became the first winery in Portugal to achieve B Corp certification. Symington Family Estates is unique amongst the major Port companies in that each working family member farms their own vineyard, alongside those under the family’s joint company ownership.
