A World Heritage Site and one of the oldest wine regions in the world, the Douro Valley is undoubtedly one of the most remarkable terroirs in the history of world viticulture.

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

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

While the art of making Port wine was being perfected, Bordeaux – another region with a talent for quenching the thirst of the English – invented winemaking through a prolonged maceration process, which allowed for 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 aimed to combine their vast knowledge of the different terroirs and grape varieties of the Douro with Bruno PRATS' experience in the Bordeaux region so that together they could produce wines from the best grapes grown in the best plots of the best estates, in fact, the true 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 now own Warre's, Dow's and Graham's, as well as numerous properties including some of the finest Cima Corgo wines. The family's vineyard holdings in the Douro Valley now exceed 900 hectares. Charles Symington is responsible for the vineyards, winemaking and production management, while Rupert, Paul, John and Dominic travel the world sharing the magic and secrets of their wines.

After selling Château Cos d'Estournel , which he had managed for thirty years, Bruno Prats transferred his winemaking activities to Viña Aquitania in Chile, where he established a partnership with Paul Pontallier, Ghislain de Montgolfier, and Felipe de Solminihac, and to 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 network Primum Familiae Vini, to which Cos d'Estournel also belonged.

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