Touriga National is considered the finest of the traditional Port grapes. Its vines produce very tiny berries and very low yields of extremely dark (almost black), deeply concentrated fruit that has tremendous flavor intensity and strong tannins. It’s a grape that demands warm weather for ripening but it can tolerate cool evenings, which is what allows it to thrive in Jim’s Vineyard in the Alexander Valley where it is grown.

Grapes intended for port are treated differently than those transformed into regular wine. Port is “fortified,” meaning that our grapes, once harvested, are placed in special tanks and allowed to only partially ferment. That is, we only let half of the natural sugar in the grapes be converted into alcohol and then add clear grape spirit to the wine to arrest any further fermentation. This technique is what creates a sweet wine. For our 2008 Touriga National Port, we used a spirit made from Chardonnay grapes. The wine is then placed in small oak barrels for 24 months in order to mellow out the tannins and heighten the flavor complexity.