Symington

The important port wine house in Porto (Portugal) grew out of various port wine companies in the course of its history. The founder was the Scotsman Andrew James Symington (1863-1939), who immigrated in 1882. He began his career with Warre's port wine company (with Quinta da Cavadinha) and later also became a partner in this company. George Warre owned the majority of Dow's Port (with Quinta do Bomfim and Quinta da Senhorada Ribeira) at this time. In 1912 Symington took a share in Dow's, while Warre bought back part of the company founded by his family. The Symington family was responsible for production and the Warre family for sales and distribution.

In 1961, Warre sold the remaining stake to the Symingtons, which meant that Dow was now also 100% incorporated. The third port company to be taken over was W & J Graham's (with Quinta dos Malvedos) in 1970, together with its sister company Smith Woodhouse. It then continued with Gould Campbell and last in 1989 with Quinta do Vesuvio. A partnership with the Quinta de Roriz estate, owned by João van Zeller, a distant relative of the family, was amicably dissolved in 2008. However, there is no port brand called Symington, the products are produced under the names of the respective companies or wineries. Each has its own stocks.