Tag Archives: Napa Valley Register

Discovering the Dão: Meet Some of the Producers

Written by Allison Levine on
Travel Lifestyle Wine

Over the past month, I have shared my stories from my trip to the Dão region in Portugal. It was such an amazing region to discover and learn about the terroir, the grapes and the people. In addition to the wineries I wrote about in my other stories, we visited many other producers and I introduced some of them in my recent column in the Napa Valley Register and you can enjoy it here!

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My recent travels to Portugal took me to the Dão region for the first time.

Over the past few weeks, I have been sharing my discovery of this special region, from understanding the terroir to the transition from field blends to single-varietal wines to the wonderful white wine unique to the Dão, Encruzado.

I shared the stories of Julia Kemper Wines, Quinta dos Roques and Casa da Passarella. As I finish up my series, I want to introduce some of the other wineries that I visited while on my journey of Discovering the Dão.

Boas Quintas

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Discovering the Dao: Take Notice of the White Grape Encruzado

Written by Allison Levine on
Lifestyle Wine

The world of white wine grapes is vast. On my recent trip to the Dão region in Portugal, I tasted Encruzado for the first time. And, I was hooked! I love this white wine and wrote about it in my recent column in the Napa Valley Register, which you can read here. I hope you get the chance to try Encruzado!

Portugal is a country known for its red wines, and the Dão region is no exception. Touriga Nacional and Tinto Roriz (also known as Tempranillo) are more famous, but the Dão is also home to the grape Encruzado, considered possibly Portugal’s finest white grape variety. A grape that has primarily been used for blending also produces exceptional single varietal wines that can be enjoyed by those who like white Burgundy.

Encruzado is grown almost exclusively in the Dão. The granite soils, higher altitudes and diurnal temperature shifts all benefit Encruzado, which is a slow-ripening grape. It was during a visit to Casa da Passarella that I fell in love with Encruzado.

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Discovering the Dão: From Field Blends to Single Varietal Wines

Written by Allison Levine on
Travel Wine

My exploration into the Dão region continued. First it was about visiting a new wine region, then it was about the terroir and now I share the story of Luis Lourenço of Quinta dos Roques and Quinta das Maias who was one of the pioneers in the region to make single varietal wines. My story about the evolution from field blends to single varietal wines first ran in the Napa Valley Register and you can read it below here.

Field blends were once common in the Old World. Families would plant more than one variety in the vineyard and did not really care about varieties or clones. Instead of considering the unique characteristics of each grape, the grapes were all treated the same way.

Red and white grapes were interplanted. All grapes were harvested at the same time and fermented together. The winemaker had no influence on the final wine blend. And, more than likely, while all the grapes were indigenous, the winemakers most likely did not know what grape varieties they had planted.

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