Symington Family Estates has launched its School Of Port with a 16-part online video course dubbed The Essentials. Hosted by experienced Port educator Isabel Monteiro, the course is divided into five key chapters – History, Douro Terroir, Production, Ageing, and Storing, Serving & Pairing. Each episode is around 3 to 5 minutes in length, with Monteiro teaching viewers about the fundamentals of Port in an informal and engaging way at different locations. Participants who have viewed all episodes are invited to take a short online test to assess their Port knowledge. Successful participants are issued a School of Port certificate and rewarded with a bonus episode.
Symington Family Estates first launched School of Port in response to the coronavirus lockdown as a way of continuing Port training sessions which had previously taken place offline. The core offering has been a bespoke workshop for wine trade professionals, conducted online by a Port wine educator. Since launching, over 1,300 people have taken the workshop. The Essentials video course was developed in response to the large volume of requests for online training, which participants could take in their own time, at their own pace.
Rob Symington, 5th generation Port producer at Symington Family Estates says, “When we first launched School of Port our goal was to provide engaging online workshops primarily for trade professionals, with the Instagram account being the channel that was accessible to consumers. Over the last year, however, we had many requests from wine lovers for further Port training to take in their own time – and we developed The Essentials online course in response. We are excited to be broadening the School of Port’s educational offering and showing both wine professionals and consumers around the world the versatility of Port and its relevance today.”
The new online course joins School of Port’s active Instagram account, featuring rich educational content, including expert Q&As, infographics, and interviews with people connected to the Port trade. Most recently, the platform has released a series of ‘how-to’ videos called Portorials – available on the School of Port Instagram and YouTube channels. This includes how to – read a Port label, make a Port & Tonic, decant Vintage Port, and find vegan Ports. An introduction to The Essentials video course can be found here.