Vintage port needs to lose its formal image in order to find a new audience for the 21st century, according to one leading producer.

Dominic Symington, executive director of the Symington Family Estates, now faces a tough challenge as he looks to develop a new direction for his family's 450-year-old wine business.

Shifting consumer fashions and the growth of New World wines have broken up the traditional markets where port has always sold well.

According to Agence France-Presse, this means producers in the famous Douro Valley are finding their profit margins shrinking year by year, leading them to explore alternative ways to market port.

"The trade is clearly going through a difficult time," Mr Symington told the news provider. In order to secure a prosperous future, the 55-year-old believes it is necessary to "de-formalise" port.

Long associated with the aristocracy and upper classes, vintage port is still served by Queen Elizabeth II at state banquets.

But Symington says that this "stuffy" image is making the wine too niche, and the drink needs to re-invent itself in order to attract a new generation of drinkers that will sustain Douro growers throughout the 21st century.

In order to do so, some producers are looking further afield as the financial crisis drives down sales in the traditional markets of France, the Netherlands, Portugal, Belgium, the United States and Britain.

Aparecida Gilioli, a tour operator from Curitiba in Parana state believes that the "sophisticated" nature of port will make it a hit with the growing Brazilian middle classes.

As if the problem of a shrinking consumer bas wasn't enough for port producers, the Douro has had to endure one of its most difficult growing seasons in 2011, with long periods of drought and high temperatures burning the unripened grapes.

Antonio Magalhaes, head viticulturist for The Fladgate Partnership, recently expressed his concern that the weather seen in 2011 could be the new norm for the Douro Valley, thanks to climate change.