The Symington family announced this week that a small number of its iconic 1994 Dow’s, Graham’s and Warre’s vintage Ports will be released from its cellars.
Considered to be some of the finest vintage Ports produced in the second half of the 20th century, three wines from the exceptional 1994 vintage will once again be made available. The Symington family is also offering a rare case, which contains all three vintage Ports.
Bottled in 1996 and aged for 25 years in Porto’s historic Vila Nova de Gaia district, these wines have developed excellent maturity alongside their vibrant fruit character. The Dow’s is muscular and intensely concentrated. The Graham’s is rich, complex and elegant, while the Warre’s is fresh and floral with polished tannins. All three have a bright acidity, indicating a long life ahead of them.
The three wines are said to hold special significance for Charles Symington, head winemaker at the company, who revealed:
“The 1994s were the first wines that my father tasked me to appraise and evaluate. I can clearly remember the intensity of the wines with remarkable fruit character and a beautiful, layered complexity. The decision to declare the 1994 vintage was one of the quickest in my career.”
After 25 years ageing in bottle, these wines are now thought to be entering into an exciting period, with Charles Symington declaring: “I find these vintage Ports irresistible to drink now but they still have quite a few decades to go.”
The wines are available in cases (6 x 75cl) and bottles in fine wooden boxes.
The Symingtons have been producing Port in northern Portugal since 1882. Five generations of the family have helped to steer the company and today, 10 Symingtons work across the company’s four Port houses: Graham’s, Cockburn’s, Dow’s and Warre’s.
Symington Family Estates is also the leading owner of prime vineyards in the Douro Valley, with 26 Quintas under its belt, and 1,114 ha under vine.