Welcome to our seventh post in our series on the wines of Portugal, and the first on the region of Douro. If you want to start at the beginning, head over to Dão, and then click through to the right. Today we’ll focus in on the table wines of Douro, and cover Porto over the next few days.
Douro
Douro is really best known for it’s Porto, but to start, we’re going to round out our discussion of dry wines form Portugal with table wines from Douro. The region itself is pretty inhospitable to most types of vegetation thanks to 60 degree slopes and slate soil. Vines are thankfully able to grow in these environment, and with the introduction of funding from the EU, modern winemaking began to take hold in Douro. This meant that the wines became increasingly refined, and pulled structured flavors with dark, juicy black fig and minerality. Think Port, without the sweetness, and a touch of French oak.
Quick Summary on Douro
- Known for: Port!*
- Best Wine Style: Fortified, vivid and sweet red wines
- Best Varietals: Tinta Barroca, Tinto Cão, Tinta Roriz, Sousão, Touriga Franca, Touriga Nacional
- Notable Producers: Cockburn’s, Dow’s, Graham’s, Niepoort, Quinta do Noval, Sandeman, Taylor, Warre’s
* – Note, there’s great bargains coming out of Douro as well for table red wines. These use the same grapes, are deep, dark wines with hints of minerality, smoke, and dark fruits.
José Maria Da Fonseca Domini 2013
As we covered with Twin Vines, José Maria Da Fonseca is one of the most impactful producers in Portugal’s history, and their reach extends to Douro as well. With their strong pedigree, does José Maria Da Fonseca Domini work as a great example of the area’s potential?
[This bottle was graciously provided as a sample! Thank you so much to the winery, their importer, and the PR team]
Sight: A deep, rich, inky violet with magenta edges.
Smell: Beautiful rich notes of blackberries, blueberries, and violets pungently burst forth. Raspberries, vanilla, cinnamon, and a hint of heat join in. A waft of earthiness and minerality is present.
Sip: The body is lush and round, but not quite heavy. There’s a lot of tannin that starts building at a rapid pace, with definite speed, but also a good amount of refinement. Blackberries, violet, slate, and plum skin all come into play. A good amount of brightness means the berry flavors, raspberry, blackberry, blueberry, are here and lively.
Savor: The ending pulls in more plum skins, blackberries, a hint of coffee, more violet, and some slate. The finish goes for a long time with massive tannins, and has a hint of mint over time.
José Maria Da Fonseca Domini is deeply pungent with flavor, and is aggressive in conveying it. The beautiful structure that starts the mouthfeel off, transitions into powerful flavors, and well defined tannin. There are occasional comparisons of this region to Priorat in Spain, and the potential and refinement here shows why. With the structure of this wine, it will easily mature in the bottle for another year or two. José Maria Da Fonseca Domini is a beautifully constructed wine, and is a great choice for any fan of big red wines, especially Spanish lovers.
Verdict: Blackberry, Plums, Slate, Violet, Tannic
Rating: 90
Price: $15
Douro, Portugal
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