Portugal’s sleepy Dão offers great value on fresh blends

From sought-after whites to fragrant reds, there is a focus on quality at all price points

Aoife Carrigy's wine picks of the week

Aoife Carrigy

A recent visit to the beautiful Dão region in Portugal reminded me that there’s nothing like touring a wine region to get an understanding of its wines and their terroir.

I use that ‘terroir’ term here in its broadest sense. I mean the influence of geography and climate, which in the moderate Dão translates as vineyards set within rolling wooded hills, due south-east of Porto. Surrounding mountains shelter this raised plateau from the extremes of the cooling Atlantic winds to the west and the hot Spanish Meseta to the east. Europe was heating up for its hottest summer ever when I visited, yet I was glad of my jacket as I stood in the brisk sunshine and eyed up the shower-burst clouds rolling toward us. All of this helps to make the Dão a good bet for sun-ripened expressive wines well-balanced by freshness.