Winemaker Notes
Professional Ratings
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Wine Spectator
Dense and concentrated flavors of wild plum, meat, kirsch and tobacco leaf fill this powerful red, with fine-grained tannins on the exuberantly fruity yet balanced finish. Mineral notes linger with plenty of chocolate overtones. Drink now through 2016. Tasted twice, with consistent notes. 1,125 cases made.
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Robert Parker's Wine Advocate
The 2007 Touriga Nacional is revisited this issue as part of the vertical presented. Elegant and remarkably graceful, this is an understated wine that doesn't have a lot of "wow" going for it on opening, but its subtle persistence and graceful demeanor make it very charming, to say the least, and the perfect food wine. Showing a hint of an earthy overlay, it has also acquired a little complexity. It is worth extending the drinking window a bit, but I still see little evidence that this will reward long aging. Don't hesitate to dive in--it is pretty much at peak now. Although the vintages aren't quite like that on paper, I think its successor, the 2008 in the vertical this issue, is better. The cork was a touch brittle, but the wine is right where I expected, and showing no oxidative qualities.
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.