Symington Family Estates said it was the first time ‘back-to-back’ vintages were declared in the company’s history.
The declaration encompasses the entire Symington Port stable, which includes Cockburn’s, Dow’s, Graham’s and Warre’s.
According to a statement, this was a ‘milestone’ in the company history, and ‘the result of two very different but extremely high-quality years for Port in the Douro.’
‘Few wine regions in the world restrict vintage years with such integrity as we do in the Douro,’ said Johnny Symington, chairman at Symington Family Estates.
‘The decision to declare Vintage Ports from two consecutive years was not one taken lightly. However, these two exceptionally strong harvests have produced wines of such immense quality that we felt justified in making this historic decision.’
‘2017 is clearly an exceptional year, which I believe will be remembered as one of the historic Vintage Port declarations of Quinta do Noval,’ said managing director of Quinta do Noval, Christian Seely.
The 2017 vintage
2017 was a hot, dry year with low rainfall. The harvest took place in August, which was unusually early.
Symington Family Estates says that 2017 bears a resemblance to the rainfall and temperature patterns of the widely-acclaimed 1945 vintage.
