1. What does a history of more than 550 years mean for the estate?

Luís Carlos Fernandes: Naturally, this is of great significance, especially when you consider, that Chryseia embodies two of the world’s greatest winemaking traditions, Bordeaux and the Douro. But it is not just about being inspired by the shared, rich legacies of these regions, it is also about balancing the best that tradition has taught us, whilst keeping an open mind to embrace the best developments and practices that modern, advanced winemaking (viticulture and oenology) can provide.


2. What does “Chryseia” mean for your winery?

L. F.: Chryseia is synonymous with the Prats & Symington partnership, in that it is our top-flight wine, made with infinite care and ambition. It brings the excellent primary material of the Douro Valley and the expertise— the savoir-faire — of Bordeaux together. A wine that symbolizes the meeting place of Douro power and potential and Bordeaux finesse and elegance. 


3. Blends versus single grape wines: What advantages do either of them have in your opinion?

L. F.: Centuries of winemaking have shown that blends express Douro’s finest quality better (just as in Bordeaux, particularly the Médoc). The Douro is a mountainous wine region, in fact it is the world’s largest mountain vineyard, concentrating just over 50 % of steep gradient (+30° slope) vineyards. As such, the region has a myriad of exposures, altitudes, climatic variations etc., which determine that certain grape varieties are better suited to the many terroirs. Touriga Nacional and Touriga Franca have been shown to be the two defining varieties for Douro’s top of the range still red wines. We sometimes draw a parallel between Touriga Nacional and Cabernet Sauvignon (structure, depth, black fruit and complexity) and between Touriga Franca and Merlot (floral aromatics, suppleness, and opulence).


4. What is your favourite Portuguese grape variety?

L. F.: The Touriga Nacional is generally considered to be Portugals finest red variety. It is undeniable that a large proportion of Portugal’s finest red wines have this variety in their make-up, especially those from the Douro and from the Dão regions. In the Douro, it is the principal structuring variety for both the regions still wines and port. Besides all its amazing attributes, it is also heat and drought-resistant, an increasingly important characteristic as climate change shapes a scenario of rising temperatures and decreasing rainfall.


5. Which impact has climate change on your work?

L. F.: As a company and as a partnership of family winemakers we think long-term. We understand that we are faced by very real, very urgent environmental challenges. We take our responsibility to adapt, how our business operates to support a healthy, liveable future, very seriously. We know that our ability to keep producing high quality wine for many years is dependent on a stable climate and a healthy ecosystem. We are therefore committed to pushing the boundaries of sustainable winemaking to actively protect our natural ecosystems. We are regional leaders in viticulture R&D, looking into ways, in which science can help us to shape precision viticulture in such a way as to mitigate the effects of climate change and define adaptation strategies, so that future generations can continue to make exceptional wines.
 

6. How relevant are trends for your work? Are they an influence or do trends have no place in your personal way of making wine?

L. F.: We believe that consumers of very fine wines, such as ours, look to uncompromising quality standards and to the upkeep of a region’s specific identity and style. In other words, we are ultimately influenced by our steadfast ambition to always do better from a winemaking point of view, to how we can sustainably manage our vineyards. Naturally, we are open to new developments, but as a family company we think in the long-term; In steady evolution and incremental improvement, which result from a combination of many small, almost imperceptible details rather than sudden changes of direction, that would disown our legacy and almost certainly disappoint our customers.


7. Apart from port wines, where do you see Portuguese wines in the world of wine in ten years’ time?

L. F.: One of the key trends driving sales of Portuguese wines right now is the resurgence of the growth in tourism to Portugal, which started before the pandemic. Visitors are coming to Portugal and discover the different wine regions and indigenous grape varieties, which create wines with unique profiles — quite remarkable for such a small country. Douro DOC red wines predominantly blended using the indigenous Touriga Franca and Touriga Nacional varieties, have continued to see growth in both the domestic and international markets. The country’s fine white wines are also helping to raise Portugal’s profile as a quality wine producer, not just from the Alvarinho wines of the Minho region, but also from the Douro, Dão and the cooler subregion of the Alentejo (Portalegre).


8. Who is a real role model in the world of wine for you?

L. F.: Bodegas Vega Sicilia, from our neighbouring country and with whom we share a river, the Douro (Duero in Spain).


9. Apart from working in the vineyard and the cellar, a winegrower has many other tasks to take care of. How important are trade fairs, tastings and wine dinners, where you can present your wines to an audience, for you?

L. F.: Although the Prats and Symington families are two well-known, respected names in the wine world, the partnership we formed in 1999 first bore fruit with the début Chryseia (2000) DOC Douro launched in 2002. Therefore, a young venture such as ours naturally understood the paramount importance of being present at trade fairs, tastings, wine dinners and other events. Winemakers Bruno Prats and Charles Symington regularly host wine presentations/tastings in Portugal and other countries. In just two decades, Chryseia has become one of the Douro’s most acclaimed names and we have no doubt that this is also a consequence of tirelessly presenting the wine, ‘in person’ all around the world.


10. In your opinion, which wines should be on the well-sorted wine list of a restaurant?

L. F.: A Douro super premium red wine and a top-flight white wine from Portalegre, the Alentejo subregion (southern Portugal), which uses beneficial altitude to produce incredibly fresh, elegant and minerally wines of immense class and character.