Douro (DOC)

The English discovered the wine of the mountainous Douro River valley in the late 17th century and gradually transformed it from a dry, red table wine to the sweet, fortified desert wine now famous as Port, or Porto.

However, even today, only about half of the wine produced in this region is turned into Porto. The rest is made into table wine, which was awarded DOC status in 1982. Production here is controlled by an organization called the Casa do Douro.

For many years the table wine of the Douro was treated as a poor cousin of Porto. Most of it was drunk locally and little attention was paid to making a distinctive quality wine.

In the 1960s and 1970s, efforts to produce a wider range of fine table wines continued with notable success. In the early 1980s another producer released a special selection estate-bottled Douro red that has gained respect as a world-class wine.

In the last decade there has been a proliferation of fine estate bottlings from one end of the Douro to the other. Several large wineries are also buying from numerous small growers to produce fine wines in ultramodern facilities.

The Douro River Valley has special physical characteristics. The vines are grown on steep hills of schistose shale soil, rising several thousand feet from the banks of the Douro River.

The richest, fullest wines, with the best characteristics for Porto, come from slopes near the river where the soils are the poorest and driest and the temperatures the highest. These stressful conditions produce wines of immense concentration, body and color but somewhat low acidity; in a word Porto wine.

Superior Douro table wines, however, require grapes that provide a more delicate balance between sugar and acid. As a result, producers have become skilled at blending higher acid grapes from the mid and upper-slopes with grapes from the lower ones.

The principal varieties used for Douro table wines are the same as those used for Porto: Touriga Nacional is balanced and firm, yet elegant. Tinta Roriz is powerful with lots of color and tannin. Tinta Barroca is feminine and charming. Touriga Francesa is highly floral, while Tinto Cao is refined and delicate, in contrast to Tinta da Barca which is very spicy.

Following this link will take you to the winery's own web site.