Prats & Symington, Prazo de Roriz, Douro, Portugal 2021

In 1999, The Symington family formed a partnership with the Prats family of Bordeaux to make top Douro wines.

The first Prats & Symington wine was Chryseia 2000 which received widespread national and international acclaim. Since then Chryseia and its second wine, Post Scriptum, have consistently appeared amongst the most highly rated Douro wines.

Chryseia was the first Portuguese non-fortified wine in the WineSpectator’s annual Top 100 Wines and has now appeared three times in this influential list. In 2014 Chryseia 2011 was ranked at number three in the Top 100, the highest ever placing of a Douro wine. Prats & Symington also make Prazo de Roriz, a red wineproduced from younger vines and, in exceptional years, a Quinta de Roriz Vintage Port.

Prats & Symington wines are made at one of the Douro’s greatest estates, the beautiful Quinta de Roriz. This historic vineyard dates from 1565 and has long been famous for the quality of its wines. The 42-hectare Roriz vineyard is complemented by the 23-ha Quinta da Perdiz in the neighboring Rio Torto valley. Quinta da Vila Velha owned by James and Rupert Symington, directly adjoins Roriz and some of its best grapes are also used to make Chryseia and Post Scriptum.

• Grapes are sourced from the estate vineyards of Quinta de Roriz and Quinta da Perdiz.
• This wine is produced from the third selection of estate fruit, after the first selection for Chyrseia and the second selection for Post Scriptum de Chryseia.
• The Prazo de Roriz is designed to be consumed at an earlier age than the Chryseia and Post Scriptum de Chryseia.

Varietals: 30% Touriga Nacional, 30% Touriga Franca, 15% Tinta Roriz, 25% mixed varieties

The hand-picked grapes for Prazo de Roriz are placed in small, shallow containers and on arrival at the Quinta de Roriz winery the bunches are manually sorted, after which the berries undergo an automated selection process to ensure that only grapes in ideal condition reach the stainless-steel vats. Following gentle crushing, fermentation is induced through inoculation with a specially selected yeast culture. Gentle macerations are favored in order to produce fresh and fruity wines, approachable from a young age whilst retaining good ageing potential. Six months in 400 liter French oak barrels.

“Prazo de Roriz is characterized particularly by red fruit flavors – raspberries and cherries and the Quinta de Roriz terroir provides a distinctive minerality and appealing peppery spice.”