Finessing the New Douro

It may no longer be brand new but the New Douro is still a young movement compared with the Douro’s longer-established tradition of fortified wines. As I outlined in my review of last year’s London tasting, What’s new in the New Douro?, winemakers are still working assiduously to understand and best express the varietal, climatic and topographical diversity of their stunningly beautiful but labour-intensive region. 

For me the Douro has always been about the balance between power and elegance, seen in both port and table wines where savoury, dark-fruited finesse and deliciously dry tannins shine more often than red-fruited...