The 2024 Vintage Port declaration

Symington Family declares the first Vintage Ports in seven years

The Symington Family has, for the first time in seven years, declared a Vintage.

Describing 2024 as ‘a harvest of balance, precision and quiet confidence’ resulting in ‘wines that whisper rather than shout,’ their 2024 Vintage Ports are now officially launched.

And you can read all about them here.

What declarations mean and why they matter

Vintage, of course, the annual cycle of seasons and its impact on a growing plant, is one of the fundamentals of any wine made anywhere in the world.

And as anyone who makes or works in or drinks wine knows, no two vintages are identical, and not all vintages are created equal.

Here in the UK we are only too familiar with the vagaries of the weather – just look at our last two summers: one seemingly endless grey clouds and mizzle, the other a near-unprecedented scorcher.

But perhaps nowhere on earth venerates those vintages which are truly special – above and beyond the norm – at the same level as the Port houses of the Douro Valley.

There, they will only ‘declare a vintage’ – and make their flagship wines, Vintage Ports – in years that are not merely ‘good’, but extraordinary. Years that are utterly beyond the norm in every respect of character.

It might be that two vintages achieve this in a row … or it might be that houses go for years without declaring. There’s no timetable, no concessions made or loosening of parameters if it’s been a little while.

If a Vintage is held to be exceptional, it will be declared and Vintage Port will be made. If it isn’t, it won’t and it won’t. It’s as simple as that.

2024 – a return to classic Douro harmony

So what is it that made 2024 worthy of such recognition?

Unlike several more recent vintages, conditions returned to a rhythm that would have been familiar to Douro growers in days gone by.

Later harvesting, slower and more even ripening. Grapes picked with near-perfect baumés and beautiful acidity, offering exceptional aromatics and concentration in the resulting wines.

Each of the vintage Ports from the Symington Family Estates demonstrates not only that harmony – that quality of ‘whispering, rather than shouting,’ as winemaker Charles Symington puts it – but the distinctive characteristics and idiosyncrasies that makes each house unique.

You can read each Vintage Port’s remarkable story here.

It has been a long seven years – but the 2024s have justified the wait.

Here’s to a special year – a Vintage above and beyond.