Douro is a

Portuguese wine Portuguese wine was mostly introduced by the Romans and other ancient Mediterranean peoples who traded with local coastal populations, mainly in the South. In pre-Roman Gallaecia-Lusitania times, the native peoples only drank beer and were unfami ...

region centered on the

Douro River The Douro (, , ; es, Duero ; la, Durius) is the highest-flow river of the Iberian Peninsula. It rises near Duruelo de la Sierra in Soria Province, central Spain, meanders south briefly then flows generally west through the north-west part of ...

in the

Trás-os-Montes e Alto Douro Trás-os-Montes () is a geographical, historical and cultural region of Portugal. Portuguese for "behind the mountains", Trás-os-Montes is located northeast of the country in an upland area, landlocked by the Douro and Tâmega rivers to south a ...

region. It is sometimes referred to as the ''Alto Douro'' (upper Douro), as it is located some distance upstream from

Porto Porto or Oporto () is the second-largest city in Portugal, the capital of the Porto District, and one of the Iberian Peninsula's major urban areas. Porto city proper, which is the entire municipality of Porto, is small compared to its metropol ...

, sheltered by mountain ranges from coastal influence. The region has

Portugal Portugal, officially the Portuguese Republic ( pt, República Portuguesa, links=yes ), is a Sovereign state, country whose mainland is located on the Iberian Peninsula of Southern Europe, Southwestern Europe, and whose territory also includes ...

's highest

wine Wine is an alcoholic drink typically made from fermented grapes. Yeast consumes the sugar in the grapes and converts it to ethanol and carbon dioxide, releasing heat in the process. Different varieties of grapes and strains of yeasts are ...

classification as a '' Denominação de Origem Controlada'' (DOC) and is registered as a

Protected Designation of Origin The protected designation of origin (PDO) is a type of geographical indication of the European Union and the United Kingdom aimed at preserving the designations of origin of food-related products. The designation was created in 1992 and its main ...

under EU and UK law, and as a Geographical Indication in several other countries through bilateral agreements. While the region is best known for

Port wine Port wine (also known as vinho do Porto, , or simply port) is a Portuguese fortified wine produced in the Douro Valley of northern Portugal. It is typically a sweet red wine, often served with dessert, although it also comes in dry, sem ...

production, the Douro produces just as much table wine (non-fortified wines) as it does

fortified wine Fortified wine is a wine to which a distilled spirit, usually brandy, has been added. In the course of some centuries, winemakers have developed many different styles of fortified wine, including port, sherry, madeira, Marsala, Commanda ...

. The non-fortified wines are typically referred to as "Douro wines". Alto Douro was one of the 13 regions of continental Portugal identified by geographer Amorim Girão, in a study published between 1927 and 1930. Together with Trás-os-Montes it became

Trás-os-Montes e Alto Douro Province Trás-os-Montes e Alto Douro () is a historical province of Portugal located in the northeastern corner of the country. Vast plateaus, river valleys, mountains, and castles abound in Trás os Montes e Alto Douro. History A first attempt to regis ...

. The style of wines produced in the Douro range from

light Light or visible light is electromagnetic radiation that can be perceived by the human eye. Visible light is usually defined as having wavelengths in the range of 400–700 nanometres (nm), corresponding to frequencies of 750–420 terahe ...

Bordeaux Bordeaux ( , ; Gascon oc, Bordèu ; eu, Bordele; it, Bordò; es, Burdeos) is a port city on the river Garonne in the Gironde department, Southwestern France. It is the capital of the Nouvelle-Aquitaine region, as well as the prefecture ...

-style

claret Bordeaux wine ( oc, vin de Bordèu, french: vin de Bordeaux) is produced in the Bordeaux region of southwest France, around the city of Bordeaux, on the Garonne River. To the north of the city the Dordogne River joins the Garonne forming the ...

to rich Burgundian-style wines aged in new

oak An oak is a tree or shrub in the genus ''Quercus'' (; Latin "oak tree") of the beech family, Fagaceae. There are approximately 500 extant species of oaks. The common name "oak" also appears in the names of species in related genera, notably '' ...

.T. Stevenson ''"The Sotheby's Wine Encyclopedia"'' pg 331 Dorling Kindersley 2005

History

There is archaeological evidence for winemaking in the region dating from the end of the

Western Roman Empire The Western Roman Empire comprised the western provinces of the Roman Empire at any time during which they were administered by a separate independent Imperial court; in particular, this term is used in historiography to describe the period fr ...

, during the 3rd and 4th centuries AD, although grape seeds have also been found at older archaeological sites.UNESCO: Alto Douro (Portugal) No 1046
(Documentation for World Heritage application) In Medieval times from the mid-12th century,

Cistercians The Cistercians, () officially the Order of Cistercians ( la, (Sacer) Ordo Cisterciensis, abbreviated as OCist or SOCist), are a Catholic religious order of monks and nuns that branched off from the Benedictines and follow the Rule of Saint ...

had an important influence on winemaking in the region, through their three monasteries Salzedas, São João de Tarouca and São Pedro das Águias. In the 17th century, the region's vineyards expanded, and the earliest known mention of "Port wine" dates from 1675. The

Methuen Treaty The Methuen Treaty was a military and commercial treaty between England and Portugal that was signed in 1703 as part of the War of the Spanish Succession. The treaty stipulated that no tax higher than the tax charged for an equal amount of Frenc ...

between Portugal and England in 1703, and the subsequent establishment of many British Port lodges in Porto meant that Port wine became the primary product of the region, and it became economically very important to Portugal. As part of the regulation of the production and trade of this valuable commodity, a royal Portuguese charter of 10 September 1756 defined the production region for Port wine. It thus became the world's first wine region to have a formal demarcation. The vineyards covered by this demarcation were situated in the western part of the present region. Later, the vineyards have progressively expanded to the east into hotter and drier areas. Douro was not spared from the vine diseases of the 19th century.

Powdery mildew Powdery mildew is a fungal disease that affects a wide range of plants. Powdery mildew diseases are caused by many different species of ascomycete fungi in the order Erysiphales. Powdery mildew is one of the easier plant diseases to identify, as ...

(oidium) struck in 1852 and

Phylloxera Grape phylloxera is an insect pest of commercial grapevines worldwide, originally native to eastern North America. Grape phylloxera (''Daktulosphaira vitifoliae'' (Fitch 1855) belong to the family Phylloxeridae, within the order Hemiptera, bugs ...

in 1863. While table wine has always been produced in the region, for a long time little of it was seen outside the region itself. The Port lodges were focused on the production and export of Port wine, which was their unique product on the export market, and had little interest in other wine styles. Thus, while the wines could be good, for a long time, there was no attempt to use Douro grapes to produce more ambitious table wine. The person credited with creating the first ambitious Douro wine is

Fernando Nicolau de Almeida Fernando Nicolau de Almeida (1913–1998) was a pioneering Portuguese oenologist, best known for developing the ''Barca Velha'' red wine, one of the most expensive wines in Portugal. Early life Fernando Moreira Pais Nicolau de Almeida was born ...

, who worked as an

oenologist Oenology (also enology; ) is the science and study of wine and winemaking. Oenology is distinct from viticulture, which is the science of the growing, cultivation, and harvesting of grapes. The English word oenology derives from the Greek word ...

with the Port house Ferreira. He visited

during World War II, which gave him inspiration for creating a top-quality table wine. The wine Barca Velha, first produced in 1952 using grapes from Quinta do Vale de Meão situated in the Douro Superior subregion, was the result.Wine Anorak: The Douro wine revolution
/ref> Barca Velha didn't immediately get many followers, since most Port wine houses remained uninterested in non-fortified wines for a long time. A few more ambitious Douro wines made their appearance from the 1970s, but it was not until the 1990s when a large number of wines made their appearance. A contributing factor was Portugal's entry into the

European Economic Community The European Economic Community (EEC) was a regional organization created by the Treaty of Rome of 1957,Today the largely rewritten treaty continues in force as the ''Treaty on the functioning of the European Union'', as renamed by the Lisbo ...

in 1986, which meant that the Port lodges' monopoly was abolished, thus paving the way for producers in the Douro valley to produce and bottle their own wine - Port or dry Douro wines. At this stage, several Port houses also introduced Douro wines into their range. The Douro winemaking region was declared a

World Heritage Site A World Heritage Site is a landmark or area with legal protection by an international convention administered by the United Nations Educational, Scientific and Cultural Organization (UNESCO). World Heritage Sites are designated by UNESCO for h ...

in 2001.

Geography and climate

The Douro wine region is situated around the Douro river valley and lower vallies of its tributaries Varosa, Corgo, Távora,

Torto Tartaro, Tartalo, or Torto in Basque mythology, is an enormously strong one-eyed giant very similar to the Greek Cyclops that Odysseus faced in Homer's ''Odyssey''. He is said to live in caves in the mountains and catches young people in order to ...

, and Pinhão. The region is sheltered from Atlantic winds by the Marão and Montemuro mountains and has a continental climate, with hot and dry summers and cold winters. It is usually subdivided into three subregions, from the west to the east: * Baixo Corgo ("below Corgo"), a subregion with the mildest climate and most precipitation. It has of vineyards. Although it is the subregion which was planted first, in general, it is considered to give wines of lesser quality than the other two subregions. * Cima Corgo ("above Corgo") is the largest subregion with of vineyards, centered on the village of Pinhão, and where the majority of the famous ''Quintas'' are located. * Douro Superior ("upper Douro"Not to be confused with Alto Douro, which refers to the wine region as a whole although both may be translated into English as "upper Douro".) is the hottest and driest of the subregions, and stretches all the way to the Spanish border. It has of vineyards and is the source of many wines of very good quality. As it is the least accessible of the three subregions, it is the most recently planted, and it is still expanding. Terraced vineyards are very common in the Douro region. Vineyards dedicated to Port production are usually planted on

schist Schist ( ) is a medium-grained metamorphic rock showing pronounced schistosity. This means that the rock is composed of mineral grains easily seen with a low-power hand lens, oriented in such a way that the rock is easily split into thin flakes o ...

while areas with

granite Granite () is a coarse-grained (phaneritic) intrusive igneous rock composed mostly of quartz, alkali feldspar, and plagioclase. It forms from magma with a high content of silica and alkali metal oxides that slowly cools and solidifies underg ...

-based soils are used for table wine production.

Grapes

The principal grape varieties of the Douro region include the black grapes Bastardo, Mourisco tinto,

Tinta Amarela Tinta Amarela or Trincadeira is a red wine grape that is commonly used in Port wine production. The grape is noted for its dark coloring. Its use in the Douro region has been increasing in recent years. The vine is susceptible to rot and perfor ...

Tinta Barroca Tinta Barroca is a Portuguese red wine grape that is grown primarily in the Douro region with some plantings in South Africa and the Riverland wine region of Australia. In Portugal, it is a common blending grape in Port wine while in South Afri ...

, Tinta Cão, Tinta Roriz (the same as Spain's Tempranillo), Touriga Francesa and

Touriga Nacional Touriga Nacional is a variety of red wine grape, considered by many to be Portugal's finest. Despite the low yields from its small grapes, it plays a big part in the blends used for ports, and is increasingly being used for table wine in the D ...

, and the white grapes Donzelinho branco,

Gouveio Verdelho is a white wine grape grown throughout Portugal, though most associated with the island of Madeira, and also gives its name to one of the four main types of Madeira wine. At the turn of the 20th century it was the most widely planted whi ...

Malvasia Fina Malvasia (, also known as Malvazia) is a group of wine grape varieties grown historically in the Mediterranean region, Balearic Islands, Canary Islands and the island of Madeira, but now grown in many of the winemaking regions of the world. I ...

, Rabigato, and Viosinho. A large number of grape varieties are grown in the Douro region, most of them local Portuguese grapes. For a long time, the grape varieties grown in the Douro were not very well studied. Vineyards of mixed plantation were the norm, and most of the time, the vineyard owners didn't know which grape varieties they were growing. A pioneering effort were made in the 1970s which identified Touriga Nacional, Tinta Roriz, Touriga Franca, Tinta Cão and Tinta Barroca as the prime dark-skinned grape varieties. Tinta Amarela and the

teinturier Teinturier grapes are grapes whose flesh and juice is red in colour due to anthocyanin pigments accumulating within the pulp of the grape berry itself. In most cases, anthocyanin pigments are confined to the outer skin tissue only, and the squee ...

Sousão has later come to be included among the varieties that attract the most interest. This work was important for creating the new wave of top Douro wines and has also led to a greater focus on the grape varieties that go into Port wine. Most top quintas now replant with single-variety vineyards and focus on a limited number of varieties, but older, mixed vineyards will remain in production for many decades to come.

Gallery

Vila Nova de Foz Coa rio Douro (14282784962).jpg, Terraced vineyards along the Douro river Régua Douro 4.JPG, Terraced vineyards along the Douro river File:Alto Douro (702994366).jpg, Vineyards in Alto Douro File:Arco Iris nas vinhas.jpg, Vineyards in Alto Douro File:Douro valley (3913265326).jpg, Douro Valley File:IMG 4255-1 Uvas (6337636843).jpg, White grapes in Douro Valley File:Porto DSC 0431 (16847119917).jpg, Wine Making File:Quinta de Seixo 09 (31448441776).jpg, Wine Making File:Rio Douro em Portugal DSC01114 (15525180327).jpg, Wine Making

References

External links