Appellation: Douro

The dramatic terraced valley that produces both Port and increasingly celebrated dry reds, in northern Portugal.

The Douro is one of the world's most striking wine landscapes: steep schist terraces carved into the valley walls of northern Portugal, worked largely by hand. It is the birthplace of Port, the fortified wine in which fermentation is stopped with grape spirit to retain sweetness and strength.

The blends draw on native grapes — Touriga Nacional, Touriga Franca, Tinta Roriz (Tempranillo), and others — and the same varieties increasingly go into ambitious dry red table wines that have won the Douro acclaim beyond fortified wine. Both styles share a distinctive schist-driven intensity.