Symington Family Estates has amassed a substantial number of prestigious awards over recent decades for its Ports as well as for its Douro DOC wines. Few wine companies anywhere have received such a valuable range of commendations.
Awards have been forthcoming not just in the form of medals and trophies at the most important and respected international wine competitions, but also in the form of awards for the family company as a whole and for the family winemakers.
These endorsements are a vindication of the investments that the family continue to make in their Douro vineyards and wineries.
Some of the most significant awards of recent years
Wine Spectator TOP 100 of 2014: Two wines made by the family ranked Nº1 and Nº3
This was an extraordinary achievement for the Symington family, for the Douro and for Portugal. Particularly remarkable is the fact that two wines made by the same family in the same region (one Port, one Douro DOC) were ranked in the first three places.
In the 2015 editions of the three most prestigious UK wine competitions: International Wine Challenge (IWC), Decanter World Wine Awards (Decanter) and International Wine & Spirit Competition (IWSC), the Symington family received an impressive total of 11 Gold and 29 Silver medals across the range of their Ports and Douro DOC wines. The Symington family’s Ports have consistently won more awards than any other Port producer over the last three decades at these three major international competitions, all scrupulously conducted blind by professional wine tasters.
On February 18th 2015 The President of Portugal awarded Paul Symington the Order of Merit (Grande-Oficial) for his work on behalf of Port and the Douro. This follows on from the Order of Merit (Comendador) given to Paul’s grandfather, Maurice Symington in 1971. These awards recognize the family’s unswerving dedication to their wines and to their region.
This prestigious prize was recognition by the IW&SC (the world’s longest running wine competition) of the excellent performance of the Symington Family’s range of Port and Douro DOC wines during the 2013 edition of this respected contest. The rigorous evaluation process is conducted by over 300 experienced judges, many of whom are Masters of Wine, as well as other expert tasters from 30 countries.
Her Majesty the Queen, in the New Year Honours List 2013, awarded Johnny Symington the MBE (Member of the Most Excellent Order of The British Empire) for his services to Anglo-Portuguese relations and to the British community in the north of Portugal. Johnny received the award from Prince Charles in a ceremony held at Buckingham palace on February 1st, 2013.
The family’s considerable contribution to the wines of the Douro Valley was recognized in 2012 when Decanter Magazine named Paul Symington as ‘Decanter Man of The Year’, the first time a producer from Portugal was granted this prestigious accolade.
Awarded by Portugal’s authoritative ‘Revista de Vinhos’ in recognition of the excellence of Symington Family Estates’s Douro viticulture, the foundation stone of the quality of the Ports and Douro wines produced by the Symington family in the Douro Valley.
