Symington Family Estates

When we asked Charles Symington, Head Winemaker at Dow, Graham and Warre, to send in samples for our Own Selection from the superb 2011 vintage, he was happy to oblige. After extensive tasting, we concluded the wine made in the style of Graham best captured the essence of this extraordinary year with its precision, purity and power.

The blend is mainly Touriga Nacional and Tinta Roriz, with a small percentage of Souzão sourced from some of the best vineyards of the Douro Superior. The nose glories in notes of gum cistus and violet, and the palate is beautifully rounded, yet with finely etched tannins on the finish – making this vintage, to my mind, the best since 1994.
Simon Field MW, Wine Buyer

It was a great honour for Berry’s when Peter Symington, as part of his retirement celebrations (after a mere 45 years making superlative wines for Graham, Dow, Warre and the rest of them), made a very special vintage port, especially for us, its fruit sourced predominately from vines that also go to make up the Graham blend, in itself on of the top performers of the superlative year that was 2007.

The wine does not disappoint; the dark inky colour and wonderfully floral nose (crushed pepper and violets) give way to a palate where there is an almost perfectly harmonious balance between the sweet and the savoury elements, the purity of blackberry fruit poised in elegant counterpoint to the spirit and the powerful tannins on the finish. Vinhas Velhas (old vines) explain both the concentration and the length of this very fine wine, surely one of the best ports ever to come under the Berry’s Own Selection Label.
(Simon Field MW, BBR Buyer)
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Wines for our Berrys' own selection are hand-picked by our expert buyers and are standard-bearers of style and quality from classical wine regions, offering exceptional value for money.

• All Berrys' own selection wines
• Berrys' own selection Port wines

This is a superb vintage port! It has a core of vibrant, dense sweet black fruit which sings from the glass and is absolutely delicious to drink now.

However the sheer concentration of this wine and the robustness of its tannic structure will ensure a long future if you can bear to wait; over the next couple of decades you can look forward to the development of a gorgeous savoury complexity not unlike that of a fine Burgundy or top claret, and the softening of those firm tannins to give a divinely silky texture. An absolute steal at the price.
(Anne McHale, Wine Education Specialist, February 2012)