Keeping up with the Symingtons: Meet the fifth generation shaping Portuguese wine
A few years after he joined his family’s company, in 2017, Rob Symington told Essential, “We’re an old company, but not old-fashioned.” As we were preparing this magazine for print, six members of the fifth generation (including for the first time three women), and two members of the fourth led Symington Family Estates.
Rob Symington
This year Rob enjoyed a brief stint as co-CEO of the company, alongside his fourth-generation cousin Charles, responsible for wine production. Rob was responsible for just about everything else, under the chairmanship Rupert Symington (also fourth-generation) and with active participation from several family elder statesmen.
Essential met Rob just before Symington’s announced he would be stepping down as co-CEO to take up a position in London as Managing Director (UK) at Berry Bros. & Rudd. He will remain a Non-executive Director at Symington’s.
Charlotte Symington
Alongside him was his younger sister Charlotte, responsible for marketing, at the Symington’s head office in Vila Nova de Gaia, the historic Port lodge district opposite the city of Porto.
The Symingtons resolutely embrace contemporary thinking in a wine trade sometimes considered conventional. “With everything from the vineyard to the way in which we communicate about our wines, we’re at the forefront of innovation for our category. We need to respect our heritage, but we’re taking the entire business into the 21st century,” Charlotte explained.
Cockburn’s Cooperage
Before returning to Portugal to join Symington, Rob co-founded Escape The City, to help a million people discover greater meaning and purpose in their careers, to more closely align their work-life goals. Charlotte worked for White Cube art gallery, in London, before becoming Symington’s brand manager at Fells, the family’s distributor in the UK. “Today we all come in based on the added value we bring, rather than our surname,” Charlotte observed.
Surviving and thriving through evolution
“When my father started his career, we were a Port company. Today we are a Port, wine and hospitality company, operating in three Portuguese regions, as well as in Hampshire, in England,” Rob commented.
Their father is Paul Symington, Symington’s widely respected chairman for 16 years until 2018. Rob and Charlotte often call Paul for his advice.
Quinta do Bomfim
The Symingtons seem to achieve generational transition seamlessly, through pragmatism and, one suspects, strong bonds of affection.
“We plant a vineyard today and you’re not going to reap the rewards for 15 years. That long-term mindset is so important in the world of wine,” Charlotte explained. “We want the next generations to be doing what we’re doing, though they’ll perhaps be doing it differently. Our family expertise will never disappear, however you need to bring on fresh ideas and give younger members an opportunity.”
“People are the most important part of any company. Having a positive culture which supports people in developing as professionals, so they can feel happy and motivated at work, is absolutely fundamental,” Rob remarked.
Rob set about rooting the Symingtons’ wish for business longevity in a serious sustainability strategy. “We’re integrating sustainability in our core strategic plan, rather than as a nice-to-have bolt-on,” he said. In 2019, these pioneering efforts were rewarded with Symington’s becoming the first wine company in Portugal to be awarded a B Corporation certification (B Corps are assessed for the highest standards of environmental and social performance).
Visionary bets on the future
The diversification into still wines and tourism, set in motion early in this century with visionary foresight by Paul Symington and his cousins, is now rocketing along.
“We do things from farming a vineyard to running shops and every step in between. We’ve made a lot of bets over the last five years, whether it’s new wineries, wine regions, brands, a project in downtown Porto… Our challenge now is to make sure these bets deliver a return,” Rob reported.
In 2017, the hither-to Douro-centric Symington’s bought its first vineyard outside the family’s beloved Douro: Quinta da Fonte Souto in the Portalegre subregion of the Alto Alentejo.
Adega Do Ataíde
This was followed by vineyard investments in Vinho Verde as well as a joint venture in Portuguese sparkling wine with the Vértice brand. And then the almost unthinkable happened: in 2023, the Symingtons acquired their first vineyard outside Portugal, a joint venture with historic English fine wine merchant Berry Bros. & Rudd.
Hambledon, on the South Downs in Hampshire, was one of the first English vineyards to really become established when “English vineyards were still a bit of a joke”, Rob, who piloted the Symington’s side of this new project, remarked.
“You’ve got vines planted on similar soil types to Champagne, with the same varieties and similar climate, and in blind tastings experts are struggling to tell the difference between Champagne and English sparkling wine. We believe that over 10-15 years, Hambledon will become a strong business and produce wines that can compete on the world stage.”
Matriarca
Beatriz Leitão de Carvalhosa Atkinson was the wife of A. J. Symington, who founded the Symington’s Port shipping firm in 1882, and equally Rob and Charlotte’s great-great-grandmother.
Matriarca, The Cellar Shop
By all accounts, Beatriz was a strong personality and a hostess renowned for her warm-hearted gatherings. She is the inspiration behind Matriarca, opened in downtown Porto in June. “Only one in four visitors to Porto comes to the Gaia side, so we had to be on the downtown side of the city,” Rob said, as he took us through the door.
Matriarca, The Wine Bar
“Matriarca presents Port and our still wines – in addition to other Portuguese producers and some of our international wine producer friends – in an aspirational 21st-century environment. We want to showcase how relevant and exciting Port is today.”
Matriarca Exterior
Built around Matriarca, a members’ wine club, a three-storey townhouse on Praça Carlos Alberto houses a wine bar offering tapas, a cellar shop, a more formal restaurant with up-and-coming Porto chef Pedro Lencastre Monteiro in charge, a cocktail bar and wine academy, all reflecting an Anglo-Portuguese sense of family and home.
Matriarca, The Dining Room
“Porto is about experiential, educational, cultural tourism. Being innovative doesn’t only mean you’re focusing on a younger consumer, so we tend to talk about a ‘new’ generation of Port drinkers rather than a generation defined by age,” Charlotte commented. “They can be any age, male or female. The Port category is versatile, special and casual, and there’s something for everyone: chilled Tawny, white Port and tonic, lovely LBVs… different options which make the future of Port very exciting.”
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