On Monday, I was among a fortunate few in attendance for Symington Family Estates vintage port seminar and tasting in Washington, DC.  The Symington Family, fine port producers since 1882, unveiled the release of their 2011 Vintage Ports, the first declared vintage from the family since 2007 (surprisingly, they did not declare in 2009).

Me in front of the Capitol Building

Symington Family Estates is behind several legendary producers in the Douro, including: Cockburn's, Dow's, Graham's, Smith Woodhouse, Warre's and single-quinta estate Quinta do Vesuvio. The Symington family presently account for a third of all premium port in Portugal.  On hand for the event were 5th generation family members Charles, Dominic and Rupert Symington.

We tasted the current releases from each estate, including two very limited bottlings, the '11 Graham's Stone Terraces and '11 Capela do Vesuvio, produced in miniscule quantities (250 and 200 cases respectively).  These limited bottlings were extraordinary, but certainly not the only standouts on this day.  The larger production wines are compelling too.  I'll go on record and predict the 2011 vintage is bordering on profound.  The Symingtons themselves feel that this vintage may well turn out to be as great as the much lauded 1994.

Symington Port Tasting - Vintage Flight

The industry hype surrounding the declaration of 2011 may prove to be spot on.  Personally, I have never tasted such a precocious young vintage: the wines excel with ample freshness, fruit, purity, acidity, balance and minerality.  I was quite taken with the finesse displayed by these wines, a descriptor rarely associated with young vintage ports. You could almost be fooled into contemplating approaching them near term, they offer so much pleasure right out of the gate. 

Of course, these are vintage wines that we're talking about, and they’re undoubtedly built for the long haul.  I suspect that the 2011s will soon put on weight, shut down and then enter the prerequisite dumb phase that great vintage ports typically go through before emerging at somewhere near true approachability about a decade or more from now.

To offer a glimpse of what their future may hold, the Symingtons poured library releases of older vintages including ’94 Vesuvio, ’85 Dow’s, ’80 Graham’s,  ’70 Warre's, ’66 Graham’s, ’63 Dow’s and ’55 Cockburn’s--the four oldest wines reveling in their splendid maturity, yet still possessing hauntingly vibrant personalities.  The ’66 and ’55 were sublime to taste.  What a special treat. 

Jim Greeley, Wine Supervisor, SW Florida