Another Port Acquisition .... this one by the Symington´s

[Roy Hersh]

PRESS RELEASE

WARRE’S ACQUIRES TOP DOURO QUINTA

The Symington family are pleased to announce that their Port company Warre’s has acquired Quinta do Bom Retiro Pequeno, one of the best estates in the legendary Rio Torto valley. Warre’s is the oldest British Port company, the pioneer of a great and historical tradition.

For over 200 years, the Rio Torto valley has been acknowledged as one of the very finest sub-regions of the Douro, where many of Port’s greatest wines have been made.

There is a remarkable story associated with this fine estate: In 1935 the Quinta was purchased by José Augusto Serodio a well-respected vineyard owner. In that same year he sold the wine from the estate to his old friend Andrew James Symington with whom he had worked since the end of the 19th century. The friendship between the families was such that in the late 1940’s, when the Port trade was at its lowest ebb, and when many family companies closed or were sold, José signed over substantial stocks of his best Ports to the Symington family with a hand shake and the words ‘pay me when things are better’. It is rare in today’s competitive world to note such a level of trust. Many years later, three members of the Serodio family joined the Symingtons and today they work with them in key positions in the production of Port.

Since 1935 every great Vintage produced by Warre, including such legendary wines as the Warre 1945, ’55, ’60, the great ’63, right up to the recently declared 2003, have all incorporated significant proportions of the best wines from Quinta do Bom Retiro Pequeno. The estate’s wines have also been used to make Warre’s Bottle Matured LBV, widely acknowledged as the best LBV on the market and the only such wine (along with Smith Woodhouse) to be bottle-matured prior to release.

The estate amounts to 46 hectares, with 34 hectares planted with 137,820 vines of which 70% are very old and these are planted on narrow stone terraces that can be seen from the main road. In fact they are some of the most photographed vineyards in the entire Douro, as the terraces are of outstanding beauty. Many of the 18th century terraces on the Quinta have just one row of vines on them. The yields are very low, but the intensity and concentration of the wines are quite simply outstanding. All the Port has been made in the 5 traditional stone lagares on the Quinta.

The wines from Bom Retiro Pequeno complement perfectly the wines from Warre’s other main vineyard, Quinta da Cavadinha that is situated at a slightly higher altitude, is later ripening and faces southeast in the nearby Pinhão valley. This estate with its superb small winery equipped with six ultra modern robotic lagares and its 1.7 hectare experimental vineyard is in the heart of this prime sub-region.

With Cavadinha producing fresh and elegant wines, the concentrated and intense wines of Bom Retiro Pequeno combine to make the great Warre Vintage Ports, normally classified amongst the very finest produced in the Douro.

This latest acquisition confirms the Symington family as the leading owners of premium vineyards in the Douro, bringing their overall total to 19 individual Quintas.

This investment is a clear indication of the family’s firm commitment to the future of Port and the region in a period of substantial turmoil and change.

The purchase of this Quinta will reinforce the family’s market-leading position in the production of Vintage Port, Late Bottled Vintage, Old Tawny and Crusted Ports.

[Kurt Wieneke]

Didn't Ramos-Pinto or Rozes bottle a 20 or 30 year tawny under the Bom Retiro name? Rings a bell.

[Frederick Blais]

Indeed it is Bom Retiro, but Bom Retiro Pequeno is not the same quinta. There is a few quintas in the Douro that share a part of their name with other quintas.

[Andy Velebil]

I wonder if Warre's will put out a Single Quinta VP under the Quinta do Bom Retiro Pequeno name?

[Tom Archer]

I wonder if Warre's will put out a Single Quinta VP under the Quinta do Bom Retiro Pequeno name?

I think if I was a Symington, I would be deterred by the risk of confusion - and a excessively long name.

If the wine has promise as an SQVP, it might be easier to market simply as 'Warre's Pequeno'.

However, as they've been buying the wine from this quinta for some time, and the only change is the name on the title deeds, they may be content to leave things as they are.

Tom

[Roy Hersh]

I highly doubt that they will be bottling under either name at all. They just wanted to own the property and the grapes grown there.

Obviously the Symington's proposed purchase of Cockburn's (still in negotiations) would be a very different situation. But if that deal does go through it would pretty much be with minimal intervention day-to-day. It would provide an influx of cash to improve infrastructure and viticulture.

[Gilles Séguin]

Thank you Roy for the information, excellent as always.

Warre's was one of the first port that I tasted (VP), so I always have a little thing for that port. I appreciate the info.

Thanks again.

Gilles