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The Proust Q&A: Paul Symington
Born in Porto, with his cousins Johnny and Rupert, Paul Symington presides over Symington Family Estates, which includes Graham’s, Cockburn’s, Warre’s, Dow’s and Quinta do Vesuvio in its portfolio. Entering the family business after leaving university, while schooled in England, Symington considers the Douro Valley his home. He lives there with his wife Janie and plans to retire there.
Paul Symington photographed in the Douro Valley with Mungo the boxer
What is your idea of perfect happiness?
Walking with my dogs in the vineyard near Provesende in the Douro.
What is your greatest fear?
Not being able to walk with my dogs in the vineyard.
Who do you most admire?
My wife.
What is your greatest extravagance?
Mungo, my crazy boxer.
What is your current state of mind?
Bothered with the changeable weather we’ve been having this harvest.
What is the quality you most like in a woman?
Whatever I say I will be in trouble.
What words or phrases do you most overuse?
“The long and the short of it”.
Who or what is the greatest love of your life?
My family and the Douro.
When and where were you happiest?
Water skiing on the Douro with another six skiers and building a seven-person skiing triangle (it lasted less than 30 seconds).
If you could change one thing about yourself what would it be?
I’d take more holidays.
Which talent would you most like to have?
I have dreams of being a perfect off-piste skier in all snow conditions.
What do you consider your greatest achievement?
The ongoing success of our family business and earning the loyalty of our 361 staff who work with us in the Douro vineyards and in the Gaia lodges.
Where would you most like to live?
Right where I am in Portugal.
What is your most marked characteristic?
Impatience.
What is your most treasured possession?
My children.
Who are your favourite works of fiction?
Sir Charles Oman’s astonishing seven-volume A History of the Peninsular War, Winston Churchill’s Marlborough, His Life and Times, Deneys Reitz’s Adrift on the Open Veldt and Miguel Torga’s Tales from the Mountain.
Who is your hero of fiction?
Hornblower, contrary winds never stopped him doing anything.
What is it that you most dislike?
Arrogant people.
What is your greatest regret?
Not having got my grandfather to talk to me more about his time in the trenches from 1915 to 1918.
What is your motto?
Keep your head down.
Who would be your ideal dinner party guests and what three wines would you serve?
Wellington – I’d ask him why he never once went home during the Peninsular War from 1809 to 1814 – Winston Churchill and Nelson Mandela. That should be lively. I’d serve Pol Roger Cuvée Sir Winston Churchill, Chryseia Douro DOC 2007 and Dow’s 1896 Vintage Port that my 20 year-old grandfather drank with Churchill in the trenches in 1916. Then even Wellington might smile.