Two Top 100 Wineries Join Forces - Wine & Spirits Magazine Two Top 100 Wineries Join Forces

Two Top 100 Wineries Join Forces


Rupert Symington, Anselmo Mendes and Johnny Symington in Vila Nova de Gaia. (Photo courtesy of Prats & Symington)

The Symington Family and Anselmo Mendes have announced a partnership in Vinho Verde’s northern district of Monção e Melgaço. The Symington Family estate holdings in the Douro include properties for Graham’s, Dow’s, Quinta da Vesuvio and Prats + Symington, all W&S Top 100 award-winning wineries. They have been expanding their estate vineyards to the Alentejo and now Vinho Verde, with the acquisition of the Casa de Rodas, a 68-acre vineyard surrounding a historic manor house. Anselmo Mendes will be making the wine. Born in Monção, Mendes has built a formidable winemaking reputation in Portugal, now largely focused on the estate vineyards he assembled in Vinho Verde, for wines he bottles under his own name. His Contacto, grown in pebbly granitic soils close to the Minho River, amplifies saturated fruit flavors and earthy details through a short maceration on the skins. It is consistently among our top-scoring alvarinhos, and it now will be its own brand under the partnership with the Symington Family.

The Casa de Rodas in Monção, home base for the new partnership.

Joshua Greene is the editor and publisher of Wine & Spirits magazine.


This is a W&S web exclusive. Get access to all of our feature stories by signing up today.