Port anD the Douro 81skinned berries produce the darkest and most concentrated of wines. Capable of high
levels of alcohol, Touriga Nacional nevertheless retains its distinctive floral aroma (some
say violets, others bergamot) and an air of civility and finesse. It is an essential constituent
in all of the finest vintage Ports. Its reputation, aided by improved clones, has helped
Touriga Nacional to migrate south from the Douro, back to Dão and into Bairrada,
Estremadura, the Ribatejo, Setúbal Peninsula and Alentejo. Growers and winemakers
throughout Portugal still have much to learn about Touriga Nacional and as a varietal it
can be one dimensional. There are currently around 7,200 hectares of Touriga Nacional
in Portugal, bringing it into eighth place nationally. But if ever Portugal became identified
with a single grape in the way that Spain has Tempranillo or Italy Nebbiolo, that variety
would be Touriga NacionaI.
Malvasia Preta
The name ‘malvasia’ has been attached to so many Portuguese grapes that it is difficult
to separate fact from fiction. No one in the Douro ever mentions Malvasia Preta (‘Black
Malvasia’), but it is clearly a significant variety in old mixed vineyards as it still represents
around 3 per cent of the total vine stock.
tinta carvalha
Just behind Malvasia Preta in the popularity stakes, with 2 per cent of the vineyard area,
Tinta Carvalha was favoured by small growers for its high yields and therefore makes up a
significant proportion of older, mixed vineyards in the Baixo Corgo. Cincinnato da Costa
records that it was much planted in the Cima Corgo between Pinhão and Tua in the latter
part of the nineteenth century, but as many of these vineyards have been replanted it has lost
ground in favour of Touriga Franca, Tinta Roriz and Tinta Barroca. Although it apparently
has some aromatic qualities, on its own Tinta Carvalha generally produces pale, rather
hollow wine.
tinto cão
‘Red dog’ is a somewhat demeaning name for one of the Douro’s most fascinating grapes. It
was apparently the grape preferred by the British Port shippers when they began to colonise
parts of the Cima Corgo in the mid-eighteenth century. Rebello de Fonseca mentions Francis
Bearsley (an early partner in the Port shipping firm that subsequently became Taylor’s) as
one of the proponents of Tinto Cão, adding that he was prepared to pay an extraordinarily
high price for it. The high price is commensurate with very low yields and, following
phylloxera, Tinto Cão was almost driven to extinction by growers seeking production above
all else. In the late 1970s it became one of the top five recommended varieties in the Douro
and so began a modest revival, mostly at the behest of larger shippers who are intrigued by
its capacity to make dense, long-lasting wines as well as its ability to resist mildew and rot.
It now makes up around 5 per cent of the Douro vineyard. Tinto Cão yields a maximum of
1.6 kilos per vine. It resists the heat better than any other variety but ripens very late (as late