Winemaker Notes
Professional Ratings
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Robert Parker's Wine Advocate
The 2012 Touriga Nacional was aged in French oak barriques for 16 months (32% new, the rest second and third use). It comes in at 14% alcohol. Focused and expressive, this elegant Touriga is wonderfully graceful, making its bones on its harmony rather than size and power. Beautifully balanced, it becomes sexy and sensually textured as it airs and fleshes out. The concentration is a bit on the modest size, but this is immensely appealing in many ways and it does flesh out a bit in the glass as it wakes up. If it does not seem quite as deep as Vallado's Reserva reviewed this issue, it has far more personality. They are both a pleasure to drink. There were 6,500 six-packs produced.
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Wine Enthusiast
One of a pair of single-varietal wines produced at Vallado, this displays all the perfumed, tannic character of Portugal's almost-national grape variety. It's packed with structure, dark berry fruits and a dry core that's firm. The acidity and the violet perfumes are enticing now, although it is going to age well. Drink ideally from 2018.
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Wine Spectator
Raspberry and dark currant flavors dominate this elegant red, with medium-grained tannins and notes of cocoa powder. Dried mint accents emerge on the plush finish. Drink now through 2020. 3,250 cases made.
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.