What happens when famous wine families get together

Nicolas Roche is an experienced Barcelona-based wine professional who was recently recruited to join the office of Primum Familiae Vini (PFV), a rather pretentiously named group of 12 famous family-owned wine producers. Members include two Bordeaux first growths, one of the great names of Burgundy, an Italian wine producer with roots in the 14th century and Germany’s most famous wine estate.

His first exposure to the families was to be at their annual get-together the weekend before last in Portugal’s Douro valley. He was rather dreading it, expecting it to be an extremely formal gathering of demanding egos. In the end, however, he was amazed by the casual friendliness of the 45 guests. They ranged in age from four-year-old Gabin of the Hugel family, the Alsace producer founded in 1649, to 72-year-old François Perrin of Ch de Beaucastel in Châteauneuf-du-Pape, whose extensive family has recently enjoyed a boost in fortunes by making Brad Pitt’s Miraval rosé.

The presidency of the group, and responsibility for hosting this annual meeting (not to mention the dinners that stretch late into the night), rotates strictly around the members. This year the hosts were the biggest winemaking family in the group, possibly the world, the Symington family, who have been making port and shipping it to the UK since 1882. Nine members of the family work full-time for Symington Family Estates and an almost overwhelming 34 of them were listed as hosts in the booklet that accompanied the event. The company is now largely run by a fifth generation in their thirties and forties. Most of them were educated and worked in the UK but have come home to work in the family company.

Back in February last year I was emailed by Paul Symington, the retired chairman of Symington Family Estates. He invited me to give a talk at the 2025 get-together which generally, he wrote, “involves partners and children and just about everybody except their dogs. It is always good fun and informal and a chance to have a good chat to other wine families about many wine-related issues in private”.

Knowing how uniquely beautiful port country is, and knowing many of the personnel, I was happy to join and share my thoughts on the current wine scene as an outsider, hoping, I must admit, to pick up a bit of news or gossip while there.

The PFV was founded in 1991 as a result of a stroll in a Burgundian vineyard. The strollers were Miguel Torres Sr of Catalonia and Robert Drouhin of Beaune. Their conversation turned to the increasing globalisation and corporatisation of wine and the need to sustain the particular qualities of family ownership. These are especially important in wine production, which demands a long-term view (see below) rather than generating immediate results for demanding shareholders. Coca-Cola, Seagram, Diageo, Pernod Ricard and Constellation Brands have all dabbled in wine, only to retreat, completely or partially, in frustration at the slow returns. It is probably significant that the world’s biggest wine company, Gallo of California, is family-owned.

Torres and Drouhin realised that not only did family-owned companies bring something special to wine, they could benefit from banding together and sharing ploys to keep their businesses in the family, not to mention experience, expertise and knowledge. Thus was born the PFV. There must have been some interesting conversations about whom to invite.

Since the original dozen were chosen, three have been sold, demonstrating just how fragile family ownership is in the wine world. The importance of family harmony was demonstrated when in 2004 the Robert Mondavi wine company of Napa Valley was sold to Constellation. Mondavi’s place was taken by Tenuta San Guido, producer of the prototype Supertuscan Sassicaia. The business is run by cousins of the 26th-generation Antinori family, who were already members of the group.

Less-than-rigorous financial governance led to the sale in 2006 of what was then the most famous Rhône producer of all, Paul Jaboulet Aîné, to Franco-Swiss businessman Jean-Jacques Frey. Jaboulet was replaced by the Perrin family of the southern Rhône.

Two years later Bruno Prats sold Ch Cos d’Estournel in Bordeaux to Swiss businessman Michel Reybier and the group limped along with 11 members and not that much structure for some time. Apparently it was Pablo Álvarez of Tempos Vega Sicilia who suggested they needed to do more than just meet for a jolly every year. A small executive committee was set up, a general secretary hired in 2010. After much discussion (should they venture outside Europe once more?), in 2018 the Dillon family, who own Chx Haut-Brion, La Mission Haut-Brion and Quintus, were invited to become the 12th member.

The group can now boast that its members range from those who started out as humble farmers or salesmen, to a prince. Prince Robert of Luxembourg, who runs the Clarence Dillon estates, told me on a call just after the Douro weekend that it was “an honour” to be invited. He’s particularly keen on an initiative instituted in 2020 to give a prize every two years to a family business from outside the wine world — this year a lacquer company in Kyoto.

Major talking points have long been succession and inheritance taxes. More recently there has been the issue of how to remain independent at a time when vineyard land prices have risen to such heights and not all family members who own a share of them actually work in the business. At this year’s meeting there was much preoccupation with the world’s declining wine consumption, and the need to develop oenotourism as another revenue stream that puts them in touch directly with potential customers and ambassadors.

The Symingtons have been hard at work on this, spurred on by the popularity of Porto as a tourist destination. They now have three visitor centres, four restaurants and plans for a small hotel in the Douro valley. Vicky, daughter of recently retired chairman Johnny Symington, told the company assembled for a tasting of ports that tourism now provides 10 per cent of their turnover.

And then of course there is the dramatic effect of climate change on all of them. Not before time, in 2021 a technical committee was formed under the Aegis of Charles Symington, who has followed in his father Peter’s footsteps, and then Mireia Torres. Ways to mitigate hotter, drier summers have been much discussed. This year it was the turn of naturally occurring yeasts as opposed to added, specially cultured ones, EU regulations, and sustainable construction such as at the Symingtons’ brand-new Ataíde winery in the upper Douro designed and shown off to the group with great pride by Charles.

But perhaps the most important development this year was the decision to form a committee dedicated to the next generation. It was clear during the (baking hot) weekend how well they all get on and surely can only benefit from sharing ideas and techniques, not to mention complaints about the shortcomings of their parents.

Jancis Robinson will be speaking at the FT Weekend Festival on September 6 at Kenwood House Gardens, London. For passes go to: ft.com/festival