The world’s longest running wine competition, the International Wine & Spirit Competition, founded in 1969, has awarded Symington Family Estates the Portuguese Wine Producer of The Year Trophy 2013. The accolade was announced at the IWSC Annual Awards Banquet, held at the Guildhall in the City of London on Wednesday November 13th.

The award was presented by G. Gavin Brown IV to Tim Stanley-Clarke , who received it on behalf of the Symington Family. This prestigious prize is recognition of the excellent performance shown during the 2013 edition of this respected contest by the Symington Family’s range of Port and Douro DOC wines. The rigorous evaluation process is conducted by over 300 experienced judges, many of whom Masters of Wine, as well as other expert tasters from 30 countries.

In the IWSC all the wines are tasted blind. Among the wines that contributed to the granting of this award were the Graham’s 10 Year Tawny Port (“Gold–Outstanding”); Dow’s Quinta do Bomfim 2001 Vintage Port; Graham’s 2008 Late Bottled Vintage and Graham’s 2001 Quinta dos Malvedos Vintage Port (all of which won “Silver –Outstanding”).

During the gala ceremony in London, Symington Family Estates was in the company of other award winners from around the world, among them, Wolf Blass (Australia), Stag’s Leap (Napa), Bodegas Olarra (Rioja) and Diageo (UK).

The Symingtons have been Port producers for five generations since 1882 but their involvement in Port dates back fourteen generations to 1652 through their great-grandmother Beatrice Leitão de Carvalhosa Atkinson.

The family company is the leading quality Port producer with brands such as Graham’s, Cockburn’s, Dow’s and Warre’s as well as being the leading vineyard owner in the Douro valley with 965 hectares (2,385 acres) of vines at 26 Quintas. Many of the region’s finest Quintas belong to the family.