Tinto Cão

Say it: TEEN-too KOWNG

A low-yielding traditional Douro variety that was nearly lost. Prized for freshness and ageing ability in Port and dry reds.

In the glassRed fruit, floral, spicy; fresh acidity, fine tannins.

Wines made with Tinto Cão

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

Producers to try

Domingos Alves de Sousa

Santa Marta de Penaguião · Douro

A family estate in the Baixo Corgo whose Quinta da Gaivosa helped lead the Douro’s move from Port to unfortified wine in the early 1990s. Domingos Alves de Sousa runs it with his son Tiago, who makes the wines.