Douro Valley

DOC Douro and DOC Porto

While the region is associated primarily with Port wine production, the Douro produces just as much table wine (non-fortified wines) as it does fortified wine. The non-fortified wines are typically referred to as “Douro wines”. Still wine has always been produced in the region, for a long time little of it was seen outside the region itself. The Port houses were focused on the production and export of the fortified wine, which was their unique product on the export market, and had little interest in other wine styles. While the wines could be good, for a long time, there was no attempt to use Douro grapes to produce more ambitious still wines to compete with Spain, Italy and France. It wasn’t until the 1950’s that the first serious red wines were produced. They were not an immediate success and it took until the 1970’s for other ambitious wines to appear. With Portugal joining the EU in 1986, the monopoly held by the Port houses was abolished and producers were free to explore new markets with the sales of fortified wines declining. The still red wines of the region are growing with quality constantly improving and several Port houses, such as Symington, having great success. As DOC Douro, the still white and rosé wines are permitted to be bottled as from November 15 of the harvest year and it is as from May 15 of the following year of the harvest for the red wines.

The designated vineyard area for DOC Douro is the same as for DOC Porto as mentioned below and there are more grape varieties approved than for Porto. Port became very popular in England after the Methuen Treaty of 1703, when merchants were permitted to import it at a low duty, while war with France deprived English wine drinkers of French wine. British importers could be credited for recognising that a smooth, already fortified wine that would appeal to English palates would survive the trip to London. In 1678, a Liverpool wine merchant sent two new representatives to Viana do Castelo, north of Porto, to learn the wine trade. While in the Douro, the two gentlemen visited the Abbot of Lamego, who treated them to a “very agreeable, sweetish and extremely smooth” wine, which had been fortified with a distilled spirit. The two Englishmen were so pleased with the product that they purchased the Abbot’s entire lot and shipped it home. DOC Porto is known to be the first region in the world which was legally designated to a controlled production origin in 1756. Marques de Pombar who was the prime minister of the time and who built the foundation of the designation, is now an important person in the history of Port wine.

The continued British involvement in the port trade can be seen in the names of many port Shippers and brands: Broadbent, Cockburn, Croft, Dow, Gould Campbell, Graham, Osborne, Offley, Sandeman, Taylor, and Warre being amongst the best known. Shippers of Dutch and German origin are also prominent, such as Niepoort and Burmester. The British involvement grew so strong that they formed a trade association that gave the port houses a monopoly. A few port shippers and producers were also established by native Portuguese families: Ferreira and Quinta do Crasto are among the best. Both Ferreira and Quinta do Crasto can be credited for pioneering the Douro as a table-wine-producing region, Ferreira making Barca Velha since 1952 and Quinta do Crasto becoming the second producer of note, starting in the early 1990s.

There are many river tributaries and valleys including the Corgo, Torto, Tua and Sabor rivers that run from west to east of the region. The vineyards in these hot valleys, away from the influence of the Atlantic, have loose granite soils that produce distinctively ripe and powerful grapes for the base wines of Port. This region is further classified into 3 zones along the Douro river from the lower to the upper valley; Baixo Corgo, Cima Corgo and Douro Superior. Baixo Corgo is from the western end of this region, close to the point where the Corgo meets the Douro. This zone has the largest vineyards among the three zones. Despite the small surface, vineyards share over 30% of the area. Cima Corgo is further up the river. The grapes of this zone are regarded to be of the highest quality although the vineyards share only 20% of the total surface. Douro Superior is located at the upper end of the region.   The vineyard area had been limited due to the higher portion of the granite in the soil than the other two areas and the traditionally poor infrastructure to send wine to Vila Nove de Gaia, however, this area is being developed and expanded.

To produce Port wines, grapes are de-stemmed and crushed (traditionally by foot) in the fermentation vat called lagares. Maceration continues for 2 to 3 days before transferring to barrels until around half the sugar has fermented. The fermenting juice is now fortified by addition of 77%ABV grape spirit and matured in 550 litre barrels. Timing of fortification decides the residual sugar but approximately 100 to 110 litres of brandy are added to 440 to 450 litres of fermenting juice to fill the 550-litre barrel. The more residual sugar, the sweeter the wine. The alcohol level is adjusted at the end of the year and then matured until spring. The barrels are then brought to Vila Nova de Gaia, a town on the Douro river and each barrel is marked to certify the origin. Alcohol level should be from 19 to 22 % vol. with the exception of white Porto called Light Dry White Port which is permitted to be a minimum 16.5% alcohol if fermented longer. Traditionally, Port wines were required to be matured in Vila Nova de Gaia but since Portugal joined the EU in 1986 wines can be aged in their production region of Douro. Port wines are primarily classified into Red Port made from black grapes and White Port made from white grapes. Red Port is classified into Ruby and Tawny depending on the years of aging.  Ruby is bottled after an average of three years of barrel aging. This type also includes the special types of Late Bottled Vintage Port and Vintage Port. Tawny is called Tawny as the wine colour has changed into a yellowish amber due to oxidative maturation in smaller barrels.  This type also includes the special types of aged Tawny and Colheita.