Touriga Nacional
Douro
Violets, bergamot and dense black fruit with high tannin and colour. The backbone of port and, increasingly, of dry Douro reds.
At harvest
Each bar drawn against the full range of all 54 varieties
Sugar
24-28 Brix
24 - 28
Titratable acidity
5-7 g/L
5 - 7
pH
3.4-3.8
3.4 - 3.8
Juice yield
0.62 L/kg
free run plus a gentle press
Sugar per kilogram
179 g
at 26.0 Brix, the midpoint
Fruit for 23 litres
37 kg
before racking losses
Potential alcohol
14.3-15.6%
from 1.110 fermented dry. A range, because conversion varies by strain
What it punishes
Small berries and low yields. It gives less juice per kilo than almost anything else here, so buy more fruit than you think.
Made into
- Port style
- Dry red
Sulphite at this pH
At pH 3.60, protecting a red wine to 0.5 mg/L molecular SO2 takes 31 mg/L of free SO2. Work it out for your own reading.
More vinifera red
Cabernet Sauvignon
Bordeaux, and now everywhere warm enough
23-25 BrixMerlot
Right Bank Bordeaux
22-25 BrixCabernet Franc
Loire and Bordeaux
22-25 BrixPinot Noir
Burgundy
23-26 BrixSyrah
Northern Rhone
24-27 BrixGrenache
Southern Rhone and Spain
24-26 BrixMourvedre
Bandol and Spain
24-28 BrixZinfandel
California, and Croatia before that