Tinta Barroca

Say it: TEEN-tah bah-ROH-kah

An early-ripening Douro grape valued in Port for its sweetness and richness. Often planted on cooler, north-facing slopes to avoid shrivelling.

In the glassRipe black fruit, sweet and soft; high sugar.

Wines made with Tinta Barroca

Port

Fortified

Vinho do Porto

Sweet fortified wine from the Douro. Fermentation is stopped part-way by adding grape spirit (aguardente), which keeps natural grape sugar and lifts alcohol to roughly 19–22%. Grapes are still trodden by foot in granite lagares at some quintas. Traditionally the young wine was shipped downriver and aged in lodges in Vila Nova de Gaia, opposite Porto.

Critics: up to 99 pts

Douro Red

Red

Douro DOC Tinto

Dry reds from the same terraces as Port: dense, floral and structured, with a stony freshness from schist soils. Barca Velha, first made in 1952, showed what was possible; since the 1990s Douro reds have become some of Europe’s most admired, especially from old field-blend vineyards.

Critics: up to 97 pts