Chryseia Red 2011 75cl

Description

A World Heritage Site and one of the oldest wine-growing regions in the world, the Douro Valley is, without a doubt, one of the most striking terroirs in the history of global viticulture.

Great wines can only exist if there are people fortunate enough to enjoy them. There is no doubt that the English aristocracy played an important role in the development of Port wine vineyards, as happened in Bordeaux, namely with the Médoc Crus Classés.

Douro wines, grown in an inhospitable climate under a scorching sun, with their low acidity and high levels of residual sugar, have always been difficult to transport. It was for this reason that the region invented fortification, a process that involves adding brandy to wine before the end of fermentation, giving Port its distinct alcohol-sugar balance, combined with a notable aging potential. Furthermore, the process requires the rapid and energetic extraction of tannins using the traditional treading method or, in more recent years, using mechanical presses.

While the art of creating Port wine was being perfected, Bordeaux – another region with a talent for quenching the thirst of the English – invented winemaking through a process of prolonged maceration, which allowed the gradual and gentle extraction of tannins. This gave rise to the balance and subtlety of the great Médocs.

The attempt to apply Bordeaux winemaking methods to grapes traditionally destined for the production of Vintage Port is the essence of the exciting CHRYSEIA project.

The SYMINGTON family intended to combine their vast knowledge of the different terroirs and grape varieties of the Douro with the experience of Bruno PRATS in the Bordeaux region so that together they could produce wines from the best grapes grown in the best plots of the best farms, in fact Bordeaux spirit.

Andrew James Symington first settled in the city of Porto in 1882. He quickly became a Port wine shipper and in 1914 took control of Warre's. The descendants of his three sons are today the owners of Warre's, Dow's and Graham's, in addition to numerous properties where some of the best in Cima Corgo can be found. The family's vineyard holdings in Douro now exceed 900 hectares. Charles Symington is responsible for the vineyards, winemaking and production management, while Rupert, Paul, John and Dominic travel around the world sharing the magic and secrets of their wines.

After the sale of Château Cos d' Ouvirnel which he managed for thirty years, Bruno Prats transferred his wine activities to Viña Aquitania in Chile, where he established a partnership with Paul Pontallier, Ghislain de Montgolfier and Felipe de Solminihac, and for Anwilka in South Africa, in partnership with Lowell Jooste and Hubert de Bouard de Laforest. The friendship between Bruno Prats and the Symington family developed through the family wine chain Primum Familiae Vini, of which Cos d' Ouvirnel also belonged.

In November 1998, the Symington family proposed that Bruno Prats participate in a new project to produce a top quality non-fortified Douro wine. This proposal took shape in 1999 with the creation of PRATS & SYMINGTON Limitada as an equal partnership between the two families. Experimental production in this first year allowed the selection of the best lots and the most suitable grape varieties for the project. CHRYSEIA 2000 was the first vintage to be released.