Paul Symington Honored - Wine & Spirits Magazine

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Paul Symington Honored

by • May 13, 2019

Paul Symington was awarded the 2019 Lifetime Achievement Award today, May 13, 2019, at Vinexpo in Bordeaux. The biennial award, conferred by the Institute of Masters of Wine and the drinks business, honors an inspirational figure in the world of wine who has made enduring contributions during their career. Past recipients include Miguel A Torres (2017), Hugh Johnson OBE (2015), Baroness Philippine de Rothschild (2013), Jean-Michel Cazes (2011), Marchese Piero Antinori (2007) and Robert Mondavi (2005).

Symington, born in Oporto in 1953, joined his family’s Port business in 1979, managing a portfolio that includes Port brands Graham’s, Dow, Cockburn’s, Warre’s and the still-wine house Quinta do Vesuvio. While working his way up to chairman and joint managing director of his family’s company, Symington also served as vice president of the Port Wine Shippers Association; put in time on the general councils of both the Port Wine Institute and the Universidade do Porto; and help establish the Port Wine Confraria. Such work on behalf of the region as a whole inspired the University of Vila Real to name Symington as Douro Personality of the Year in 2013; in 2015, former Portugal President Cavaco Silva awarded him the Grand Officer of the Portuguese Order of Merit.

“The fabric of the great wine regions is mostly sustained by family companies.” —Paul Symington

While Symington stepped down from his positions at Symington Family Estates in December 2018, he continues to chair the UK importing company John E. Fells & Sons, as well as the management committee of Primium Familiae Vini, a group of 12 leading European wine families. He also farms 91 acres at his own estate, Quinta das Netas, in the Alto Douro.

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David Paradela
Associate Editor

David joined Wine & Spirits in 2021 after immersing himself in the world of wine at the start of the COVID-19 pandemic. Originally from Boston, he graduated from Boston University with a degree in English and completed a master’s degree in Publishing and Writing from Emerson College in 2021. Prior to working at the magazine, he served as an editor and staff writer for the music blog Sound of Boston and worked in scientific publishing. Aside from wine, he loves basketball, arguing about Taylor Swift’s best album, and everything Greta Gerwig touches.

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Tastings Editor

Corey Warren moved to New York in 2015—fifteen years too late to join The Strokes—after earning a degree at Cornell in Comparative Literature. He started polishing glasses at Betony and threw himself into the restaurant world. Later, while a captain at Aquavit, he began working part time in the Wine & Spirits tasting department. Now, in addition to running tastings, he serves as critic for the wines of the Loire, Southern France, Argentina and South Africa. Corey likes almost anything bubbly, from Miller High Life, the Champagne of beers, to Champagne, the Champagne of Champagne, but he’ll drink anything once, and loves finding unique wines.

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Since Tara Q. Thomas joined Wine & Spirits in 1997, she’s traveled the wine world from Argentina to Australia. A graduate of the Culinary Institute of America in Hyde Park, New York, with more than 20 years of experience in the food and wine world, Tara puts her culinary knowledge to use as W&S’s resident food critic, and is the critic for the wines of Austria, Germany, Eastern Europe, Argentina, and the Mediterranean. She’s particularly enthusiastic about the wines of Greece, where she once lived and cooked. Outside of W&S, Tara has authored two books, The Complete Idiot’s Guide to Wine Basics and The Pocket Idiot’s Guide to Wine; contributed to the Oxford Companion to Cheese as well as Oxford’s forthcoming volume on spirits; and writes a wine column for Culture: The Word on Cheese.

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Senior Correspondent

After graduating with a degree in journalism from the Universidad de Chile in Santiago, Patricio Tapia attended Bordeaux University in France, where he studied for a diploma in wine tasting and winemaking. Since then, he has visited wine regions around the world and authored several books, including his annual Descorchados, a Chilean wine guide; The Wines of Colchagua Valley; TodoVino and Wines for Great Occasions. Tapia is also the South American correspondent for The Oxford Companion to Wine, The World Atlas of Wine and Oz Clarke’s Pocket Wine Book. For the past three years, he’s been a host on the El Gourmet channel in South America. At Wine & Spirits, Tapia is the critic for the wines of Argentina, Chile and Spain, and regularly contributes articles on these regions.