The Douro region begins 100km inland from Porto and extends
east to the Spanish border. With its winding river, sculptured terraced
hillsides and wild, hilly vistas it is one of the most beautiful wine regions
in the world.
Dominated by the region’s famous fortified Ports, the
Douro’s still wines are gaining a rapidly improving reputation. Most top
wines are labelled as Douro DOC (Denominação de Origem Controlada)
although there are also some good wines using French grape varieties
(not authorised under the DOC) that are labelled as Vinho Regional Terras
Durienses.
With much of the areas overlapping, the Douro DOC covers almost 38,000ha,
the Vinho Regional slightly more (45,500ha) and the DO for Port slightly less
(32,000ha). The region’s soils benefit from a thick layer of schist on top of
the typical granite that abounds in most of northern Portugal. The schist
absorbs and radiates heat back into the vines, while allowing the limited
amount of rain to seep far into the ground and the vine roots to delve deep
into the vertical planes.
The wines are predominantly red and range from relatively light,
lively and fruity to deep, dark, concentrated and fully-flavoured. The
former tend to be made from Rabigato, Gouveio, Codega, Donzelinho, Malvasia
Fina and Viosinho while the latter come from the better-known Port
varieties: Tinta Roriz
(aka Tempranillo), Touriga Nacional, Tinta Francesca, Tinto Cão,
Bastardo, Mourisco Tinto, Tinta Amarela and Tinta Barroca. Classic
French varieties like Cabernet Sauvignon, Sauvignon Blanc
and Gewurztraminer are also
planted and used to produce the Vinho Regional wines.
Registered company 05492886. BB&R Limited, trading as Berry Bros & Rudd,
3 St James's Street, London, SW1A 1EG.
All rights reserved. You must be 18 or over to order.
* Calls may be recorded.
