Touriga Nacional: If you’ve heard of it, you’re probably thinking Port production, and you’re not wrong. Indeed, it is the most important red grape of the Duoro Valley where the majority of Port grapes are grown. Interesting fact: Touriga Nacional isn’t just for Port production, but still, non-fortified wines as well. (Read more about the wines of Portugal here and Port production here.) Another interesting fact: You don’t have to go to Portugal to taste Touriga Nacional. Actually, the grape grows in a couple of different California regions—some more successfully than others. In fact, past experience has told me to be wary of the grape when it hails from my home state. But today, we’re speaking about Touriga Nacional from El Dorado County, located in the foothills of the Sierra Mountains—a region I’ve come to know and trust for it’s cool-climate expression of otherwise harsh and rustic grapes. Where Touriga Nacional can become over-ripe and thus cloyingly alcoholic in some of California’s warmer, inland regions, C.G. Di Arie has crafted a wine expressive of the elevated hillsides and loamy soils.
