Winemaker Notes
On the nose, very concentrated, with notes of balsamic, oak , very ripe red fruits and violet. Balanced on the palate, with a lot of red fruit, round tannins and a long, fresh finish.
Professional Ratings
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Tasting Panel
Dusty graphite and black plum with a touch of charred cedar make for rich, robust notes. The finish of black-peppered tobacco is tempered by graceful acidity and an underlying elegance.
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Robert Parker's Wine Advocate
The 2019 Touriga Nacional was aged for 16 months in 50% new French barriques and comes in at 13.5% alcohol. Fragrant, flavorful and graceful, this lovely Touriga has an understated feel, but as it sits in the glass and on your tongue, it becomes more persistent while it pulls in the wood.
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Wine Spectator
A creamy, medium- to full-bodied red, with delicate violet, eucalyptus and saffron spice notes playing off baked black cherry and currant fruit. The sculpted tannins are finely meshed, providing fine definition and firming the zesty finish. Drink now through 2029. 2,313 cases made, 125 cases imported.
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.