Our Vineyards

PRATS & SYMINGTON is now the owner of two prime Douro estates, QUINTA DE RORIZ and QUINTA DA PERDIZ. Unusually for the Douro (at least until relatively recent times), PRATS & SYMINGTON selects most of its top quality fruit for Douro DOC production, with the authorised Port production of its vineyards being filled in with riper grapes and from those varietals deemed less suitable for top table wines. A small quantity of Vintage Port will be bottled from the Roriz estate only in exceptional years and when conditions allow.

Both Quintas lie in the parish of São João de Pesqueira, near the village of Ervedosa. Roriz sits in a natural amphitheatre on the banks of the Douro, and Perdiz lies on a steep gradient on the other side of the same mountain in the Rio Torto Valley, which runs North-West into the main Douro Valley near Pinhão.

The different microclimates of the two valleys produce very different results, as do the varying soils. Roriz has traces of tin mixed into the schistous soil from the old mine workings at the highest point of the estate, and this gives a strong minerality to the wines. Its location alongside the Douro, facing North, ensures cooler nights during the ripening season, which, in turn, results in the strong aromatic qualities, recognisable in its wines. Perdiz produces ripe, soft, velvety wines in the warmer climate of the relatively closed in Torto Valley.

In addition grapes are sourced from selected plots on the certain of the best properties – or estates – belonging to the Symington family, namely Vila Velha.