Poor old touriga nacional. It was billed as the star red grape at last week’s annual Portuguese tasting but almost all the wine producers present had nary a good word to say about it. Quizzing one about this robust, richly coloured and scented variety’s strengths, I was told: “Let’s start with its weaknesses.”
Idolise it or not, touriga nacional is one of Portugal’s most famous indigenous red varieties, despite the tiny quantities grown ( 10,000-15,000 acres at the last count). It is one of the big three grapes dominating Portugal’s most prized fortified wine, port — tinta roriz, better known as tempranillo in Spain, and touriga franca being the other two — and also pops up as an important, and increasingly solo, ingredient in many of Portugal’s greatest red wines, rafts of which also come from the Douro.
As the dozen top touriga nacional picks on show at this tasting proved, this gutsy grape doesn’t only shine in the Douro to the north but also tastes pretty darned delicious in its original home, Dão, to the south, and farther south still in the dry, dusty Alentejo in particular.
Touriga nacional is also beginning to make a name for itself in other countries, with some fancy Australian reds made from this variety. There are also some creditable touriga nacional wines made in South Africa, Spain, Lebanon and California. More are rumoured to be on the way.
So if everyone else enjoys the touriga nacional grape, with its distinctive savage scent and equally savage, rich, tannic palate reminiscent of sloes, herbs, mulberries and violets, why are the Portuguese themselves so negative?
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It certainly needs food, preferably a big juicy steak to tame its tannic taste, but I can think of other concentrated, inky grapes that are more surly and a lot less classy by comparison.
Some of the Portuguese grumbles concern touriga nacional’s naturally sweet fruit. I don’t mind this curranty character, provided that it is kept in check, but its critics claim that touriga nacional is drinkable only when blended in with other varieties. Vinified solo, they say, it is so sickly and cloying that “it’s a one-glass wine”.
Decide for yourself by scooping up Tesco’s herby, smoky, carmine red 2008 Finest Touriga Nacional, from the Lisboa region (£6.99, or buy two for £5 each until April 19). Tejo lies to the east of Lisboa and Marks & Spencer sells the glorious and keenly priced 2007 Tejo Touriga Nacional for only £6.99 with its impressive, ripe, perfumed mulberry fruit.
To taste top Portuguese reds made from this grape you will, alas, have to pay £20 plus, but Churchill Estate’s 2008 Touriga Nacional, with its distinctive prune scent, and rich, velvety, violet-scented palate (The Wine Library, 020-7481 0415, £20.99), really is worth the money.
Sympathetic to the Portuguese viewpoint, then tuck in to either the touriga -enhanced fat, juicy, creamy, herby fruit of the 2007 Chocapalha Reserva, (Corney & Barrow, 020-7265 2400, £20.99) or the silky, sloe-scented 2009 Quinta da Rosa Douro Valley Reserva (Waitrose £10.49). What’s not to like?
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E-mail Jane.macquitty@thetimes.co.uk
This week’s best buys
2010 Canelo Sauvignon Blanc, Los Robles, Chile
Marks & Spencer, down to £4.99 until April 2
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Toast Fairtrade Fortnight’s finale with this brilliant new duo made by the Los Robles co-operative. Canelo’s juicy white bursts with zesty, lemony green-apple fruit.
2009 Cono Sur Viognier, Colchagua Valley, Chile
Waitrose, £7.49
Stock up for Red Nose Day next Friday with this delicious, spicy, grapey hawthorn blossom and peach-stashed viognier: great with a mild curry.
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2009 Canelo Cabernet Sauvignon-Carmenere, Los Robles, Chile
Marks & Spencer, down to £4.99 until April 2
This clever blend, with carmenere filling out cabernet’s middle, oozes vibrant, inky, sappy style with just enough spicy, dusky raspberry fruit.
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2010 Wither Hills Pinot Gris, Marlborough, New Zealand
Waitrose, £9.99
Another Wine Relief winner, so ignore Marlborough sauvignon and dive into this exotic, spicy, floralwhite, whose restrained rose and honeysuckle-scented fruit is perfect with a Thai stir-fry.
The keeper
2006 Châteauneuf-du-Pape, Domaine de la Roquète, France
Great Western Wine (01225 322814), £27.79
2006 was one of the greatest southern Rhône vintages in recent years and châteauneuf is this area’s star turn, so it is not surprising that this smashing, spicy, herby, earthy red is as good as it is. Predominantly grenache, topped up with 20 per cent syrah and 10 per cent mourvèdre, it could be put away until 2016 for it to develop lots of scented, savoury, leathery notes, but I doubt whether any of us will be strong-willed enough to wait that long.