Leading Port producer Charles Symington, head winemaker of Symington Family Estates, has taken the helm as the new President of the prestigious Primum Familiae Vini (PFV) for the July 2024 to June 2025 term—and has promised to use his time in charge to investigate the technologies of the future.
Each year, PFV—a collection of 12 historic family wine producers—elects one of its number as a leader to represent their values and oversee their operations.
Custodians of some of the world’s most prestigious wine estates (including Baron Philippe de Rothschild, Drouhin, and Pol Roger), PFV is founded upon the principle that the challenges facing family-owned companies are best faced collectively: sharing experience and insight into the wine industry. Charles Symington, the fourth generation of Symington Family Estates, embodies this long inheritance of knowledge. In a statement on PFV’s decision, he said that he was “extremely honored” to be chosen.
Bringing change to PFV
PFV’s new President, however, also aspires to also bring change. His cousin, Paul Symington, says the group refuses to be stubbornly bound by tradition: “We in the PFV are not the old guard, we are the new guard.”
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For Charles Symington, this change comes in the form of the “evaluation of the Artificial Intelligence in viticulture and winemaking”—a proposal he promises to shortly put to the technical committee. Last year, PFV’s former President Véronique Drouhin focused on mitigating the effects of climate change on the industry. Though this remains important to Symington, this year he aims to delve into the possibilities AI presents.
A number of wineries are already using AI, be it vision-based technology in Napa Valley tractors or improved crop yield forecasting in South American vineyards. Symington Family Estates, a partner in the “VineScout” project (self-propeled, electrically powered vineyard monitoring robots), is already embracing change. PFV’s new President is clearly unafraid to go further.
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