Touriga Nacional Delivery or Pickup

Understanding how grape growers and winemakers create the wines you choose can give you a superb, informed wine experience. Knowledge of the wine's history, its origins, and how the wine grapes are grown is essential to finding the perfect wine. One indispensable wine variety is touriga nacional, which is a red wine.

Touriga nacional is grown primarily in Portugal. There is debate about whether this variety originated in the Dão or the Douro Valley. Regardless, the popular grape has continued to spread through Alentejo, Algarve, and Setúbal. In lesser amounts, winegrowers grow these grapes in California and South Africa.

The touriga nacional has two grape types grown in different areas with different tastes. The 2 types are:

Douro wines are nearly opaque. They have blackberry and black currant aromas, the floral scent of violet, and the sweet taste of vanilla. These grapes have notes of roasted meat with a big, bold yet smooth finish.

Dão tends to be lighter than Douro wine grapes, with the aromas of boysenberry, raspberries, and black cherry. Strong floral notes of Earl Grey tea, violet, and bergamot characterize these grapes.

While there are disputes about the grape's origin, there is no contention about how difficult it is to grow these grapes. The grapes tend to have diminutive yields. The berries are grown on vines that do not fruit well. When the berries do remain on the vines, they grow in small clusters with small berries. Finding and buying touriga nacional wines may be more difficult than buying other wines.

Understanding the taste of touriga nacional is critical when you buy this wine for its food pairings. The taste of the wine is described as concentrated, dark, and intense. Taste notes in touriga nacional are black licorice, wood, black pepper, and blackberry seed. Hints of blueberry, plum, bittersweet cocoa, and subtle mint characterize this wine. As a medium-aged oaked wine, a wine fermented in oak barrels, touriga nacional has high tannins and medium acidic taste. The oak aging adds aromas of vanilla, toasted marshmallow, and nutmeg.

When you buy touriga nacional, you should be aware that its boldness can overwhelm most food pairings. However, well-chosen foods contain bold tannins, bringing out the wine's floral aromas of bergamot, mint, and violet. Rich fatty foods absorb tannins from this bold wine but remember to soften the richness of fatty foods with cream-based side dishes. Meats, cheeses, vegetables, and herbs pair well with this wine and can bring out the best in its aroma and taste. Some examples of food that pairs well with this wine are meat pies and beef stroganoff. Cheeses or creams pairing well are fontina, Swiss, mozzarella, Gruyère, Stilton/blue for flavoring, Brie, farmer's cheese, coconut milk, yogurt, cream cheese, and cream. Herb and spice pairings for this wine are mint, coriander, fennel, coconut, shallots, and chives. Black pepper, parsley, cilantro, dill, basil, and bay leaf give spark to the pairings. Add lemongrass, nutmeg, and poppy seeds to dishes for a bright taste. Use green cardamon sparingly in dishes paired with this wine. Besides pairing well with meat flavors, you can also use touriga nacional with vegetables, legumes, and fruits. Beans such as lentils, black beans, pintos, and white beans are hearty enough for this wine's flavor. Roasted cauliflower, garlic scape, turnips, and sunchokes, as well as celeriac, and bamboo shoots offset touriga nacional's taste. Nuts and fruits that pair with this wine are almonds, cashews, apples, passion fruit, and lemons. 

The touriga nacional is a grape with low yield, yet it can be hardy in the harshest soil. This wine grape grows best in schist, a shale-littered soil that is almost rock. Because of this rocky soil, the touriga nacional tends to have few, tightly clustered grapes with concentrated taste and aroma. This soil is found on steep slopes made from mudstone or shale open to the sun. Often interleaved with micas, quartzes, talc, and feldspar, the minerals from schist soil give an earthy taste to this robust wine grape.

Storing touriga nacional correctly is critical to keeping taste and aroma intact. To keep your wine purchase in good condition, store touriga nacional at temperatures ranging from 55-65°F. Red wines, such as touriga nacional are best stored and served at higher temperatures than white wines. Temperatures for wine that are too cold can cause the wine to expand and contract, pushing corks out. This allows air to seep into bottles, spoiling wines. Temperatures higher than 70 degrees can cook wines, resulting in dull flavors.

What are you waiting for? Find your favorite touriga nacional on Instacart today.