Chryseia, Prats and Symington, Douro

Description

Chryseia is a Douro field blend made by Prats and Symington. It is a blend of Touriga Nacional and Touriga Franca. This is an excellent and sophisticated wine, made very much in the Bordeaux style.

The unique partnership of the Symington family’s unparalleled experience of port production in the Douro and Bruno Prats’ (previously winemaker at Cos D’Estournel) vast wine-making experience of top-growth Bordeaux has resulted in a wine which will most certainly become a cult classic of the future. Chryseia has been one of the pioneers of the now widely-recognised resurgence of non-fortified Douro DOC wines. However, this wine, whose name means “golden” in ancient Greek – as does the name of the river in Portuguese – has remained true to its style. Elegance and balance predominate and it has depth without heaviness and body without sharpness. Chryseia symbolises the union of a noble Portuguese tradition and an equally rich Bordeaux tradition in the creation of a new and modern style of wine and was first launched with the 2000 vintage.

Chryseia is made from a rigorous selection of grapes sourced from Prats and Symington’s two Upper Douro Valley vineyards, Quinta de Roriz (acquired by Prats and Symington from the van Zeller family in 2009) and Quinta da Perdiz. Another property called Quinta da Vila Velha, which is privately owned by father and son James and Rupert Symington, also contributed some of its best grapes, as it has for every vintage of Chryseia.

Chryseia 2021 is a blend of 67% Touriga Nacional and 33% Touriga Franca aged for 15 months in 400 litre French oak barrels. Bottling takes place at Vila Nova de Gaia in a modern bottling centre owned by the Symington family. The winemakers are Bruno Prats, Charles Symington, Pedro Correia and Miguel Bessa.

Chryseia was the first Portuguese red wine ever in the exclusive top 100 Wines of the World by The Wine Spectator.