Winemaker Notes
Professional Ratings
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Wine Spectator
Big and rich, this is full of Asian spice notes that are woven between ripe dark plum, blackberry and dried blueberry flavors. Chocolate mousse accents linger on the long, creamy finish, with some savory hints. Complex. Drink now through 2022.
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Robert Parker's Wine Advocate
The 2012 Touriga Nacional was aged for 16-18 months in new French barriques. That means that it was sourced from two different old-vines plots, each of which had different barrel treatment. Startlingly fresh and approachable, this lacks the tightly wound feel you might expect to see at this level, but if it doesn't seem concentrated and intense, it sure is fragrant and graceful. Utterly charming, crisp and aromatic, it is refined and beautifully balanced. Quite forward this year, it should be very nice young--which doesn't mean that it won't improve over the next few years. It does prove with air that it has a backbone, but the tannins are relatively ripe. It should make a great food wine and the bottle will drain fast at the table.
Gaining great popularity for its bold but beautifully aromatic dry red wines, Touriga Nacional is the noblest variety in Port wine. Most likely originating from the Dão region, today it grows throughout the Douro Valley as well. Somm Secret—As many as 80 grape varieties can be used to make Port wine, each contributing something unique to the resulting blend. Touriga Nacional adds great color, tannins and aromatics.
The home of Port—perhaps the most internationally acclaimed beverage—the Douro region of Portugal is one of the world’s oldest delimited wine regions, established in 1756. The vineyards of the Douro, set on the slopes surrounding the Douro River (known as the Duero in Spain), are incredibly steep, necessitating the use of terracing and thus, manual vineyard management as well as harvesting. The Douro's best sites, rare outcroppings of Cambrian schist, are reserved for vineyards that yield high quality Port.
While more than 100 indigenous varieties are approved for wine production in the Douro, there are five primary grapes that make up most Port and the region's excellent, though less known, red table wines. Touriga Nacional is the finest of these, prized for its deep color, tannins and floral aromatics. Tinta Roriz (Spain's Tempranillo) adds bright acidity and red fruit flavors. Touriga Franca shows great persistence of fruit and Tinta Barroca helps round out the blend with its supple texture. Tinta Cão, a fine but low-yielding variety, is now rarely planted but still highly valued for its ability to produce excellent, complex wines.
White wines, generally crisp, mineral-driven blends of Arinto, Viosinho, Gouveio, Malvasia Fina and an assortment of other rare but local varieties, are produced in small quantities but worth noting.
With hot summers and cool, wet winters, the Duoro has a maritime climate.