Personalities

Dominic Symington: «Port is delicious»
«Enoteka» № 12-1(69) 2008-2009

Symington Family Estates is well known to Port lovers.

The family group owns 8 brands in the Douro Valley, including such renowned names as Graham’s, Warre’s, Dow’s and Quinta do Vesuvio. The business is run by the Symingtons who, through the Portuguese family branch, have worked with Port since mid 17th century. Dominic Symington who represents the current generation agreed to talk about the family enterprise and the secrets behind new popularity of the historic wine.

– I was recently talking to a representative of the Douro and Port Wine Institute. He was quite pessimistic in his Port industry forecast. The Port category will die in a few years unless a good tourism infrastructure is developed in the area. Do you agree with him?

– My immediate reaction — that is possibly not a much bethought answer. In reality the Port industry overall is developing quite well. Our total market worldwide has been reasonably stable for the last 6-7 years, and there is a new trend. The more expensive wines have been increasing in volume, and the standard, or the entry-level, Ports have been reducing in volume. Total market is stable, but actually the consumer is trading up. Another thing that is happening is that younger wine drinkers are also drinking Port and they are enjoying it. I think in part this is the reason why our brand Otima has been very successful. It appeals to people who are a little bit less formal.

From a tourism point of view, the amount of visitors to Oporto and Vila Nova de Gaia is growing every year. More people are also visiting the Douro Valley where the vineyards are. It is 100 km east of Oporto. Interest in wine tourism is rising. People come to Portugal for the same reason as in other places in the world. They want to learn about wine, they want to visit wine growing regions.

– How successful is the visitors’ centre at the Graham’s lodge?

– It’s been extremely successful. Most of the visitors come to Vila Nova de Gaia to visit Port cellars. First they visit places along the river front. My colleagues who have got the cellars down on the river front tend to get more visitors than we do here, but we have developed a reputation for having a visit that is very educational. We don’t bring them in, take them around in 10 minutes, try to get them to buy a bottle and to go away. I don’t say that this is what other people do, but because they have a bigger number of visitors sometimes they can’t give quite the attention that is necessary. We have taken the view that although we are a little bit back from the riverfront, we try to be much more educational so that people go away with an understanding what Port is, how it is made and what are the different styles. As a result, our centre is now well known.

– It’s fair to say that success is attributed not only to the visitor’s centre, but to Symington Family Estates in general. The company has been operational for several centuries and goes from strength to strength. How do you achieve it?

– I’d like to say with a lot of hard work and huge intelligence, but in reality it is not that simple. Success is hard work and is also a little bit of luck. In my family success has come from a combination of those things.

One point that is absolutely overriding is that we follow the quality of our wines. We don’t say that we are the best. We just try to be as good as we possibly can in our winemaking and do not compromise on the quality of our wines. Some people think that wine in a given year is better than in the other. In 2007 Symington Family Estates won more gold medals in three major blind tasting competitions in the UK than any other wine company in the world. And it wasn’t only in 2007. We did the same in 2006 and 2005. For us it is so important, we are very proud of that. We recognise that we are a small business in the global scheme of things. The only way that we will survive in the long term is to absolutely unquestionably to follow the quality of wine, but at the same time we have to be realistic, we have to be commercial.

Our advantage is that not only do we run own vineyards and make our wine, but we also sell our wine. If there is a decision, I can take it immediately myself, and we are prepared to take risk. At other times I just pick up a telephone, ring up my brother or my cousin and we take a decision together. The company is owned and run by five members of the family. We do not have 5,000 shareholders who are worried about their dividend in the end of the year. The shareholders are the 5 people who work in the business. We are very focused about what we do and I think that has certainly helped a lot our business and its success.

– Let’s go back to Port. You mentioned that demand for premium labels is growing. Which ones?

– In reality there are two wines that stand out particularly for being a success. The economic factor, ultimately the price of the bottle of wine, has an influence, but 10-year Tawny Ports are growing very strongly. The other category that has hugely driven the market is the Reserve Rubies and the Late Bottled Vintage. Interestingly, in some countries the Reserve Rubies, like the Warre’s Warrior or Graham’s Six Grapes, do better, and in other countries it is the LBV, but never both. In reality they are sister categories. They are essentially premium Ruby Ports, with a similar taste profile.

Single Quinta Vintage Port and Vintage Port itself are very popular but in a different market. We are talking about people who are seriously wine connoisseurs. The Single Quinta category gives a fantastic value for money. The category is developing very well indeed.

– The company exports to many countries. What are your observations regarding established and developing markets?

– If we go back into the history of Port trade, up until the Second World War the vast majority of Ports were sold in the UK, also we had been selling them to other countries for almost a century. There was a bit in Russia, but that stopped with Russian revolution. Today the volume market for the industry is France — for standard entry level tawny and white Port. Belgium is also very strong. Holland is another important market that has been showing an amazing development in the better class of wines. The UK is still a very vibrant market, especially with the LBV category. The US and Canada have developed hugely, particularly the US, but they still have a long way to go.

For emerging markets, Eastern European countries are developing quite strongly. Russia is particularly relevant to this conversation. It is growing very positively. It hasn’t grown quite as fast as, perhaps, anticipated, but the base and the potential is certainly there. Our family have now made it a very focused priority in the next few years. As the economy develops, there is a broader middle class which are our potential customers. Port also fits in the taste profile of the market. It is naturally richer and sweeter. A lot of people talk about Far East and China — yes, there is a huge number of people, but I think it is a slightly longer term development.

– You’ve been selling Port in Russia for several years now. What prevents from achieving more than you have done?

– The lack of knowledge. People don’t know an awful lot about Port, so sometimes possibly they might be a little bit nervous to buy a bottle because they are not quite sure what they are going to get. In the Soviet Union there was a cheap, not very good sweet red wine “777” called port, thus a negative attitude. We need to get over that. One of the ways to do it is to educate people as to what is genuine Port. People know French, Italian and Spanish wines, but not Port. It’s time to change it.

– How can you best describe Port to a Russian consumer?

– I can put it in one word — delicious. You have a complexity of flavour. There are two families of Port. There is the Ruby family where, to a degree, you can put Vintage Port. The route of the flavour profiles in the wines is very similar — very vibrant, upfront fruit, pepper spiciness. Obviously, as a Vintage Port ages, it mellows and it softens, but the basis of the flavour profiles is very similar. Then you’ve got the other family which is Tawny. It’s almost like a meditation, it’s a much calmer, softer, mellower, rounder flavour. I think you have to decide what is your own personal flavour profile — either vibrancy of flavours which is a ruby family, or the mellower, more mature flavours that you get in the tawny.

One of the things that is absolutely critical with Port is to serve it at a correct temperature. Because it has a higher alcohol content, it becomes ethereal in warm conditions. The alcohol comes off and then you lose the flavours. More people have perhaps not enjoyed Port because it was served at the room temperature. It is best to have it slightly chilled.