Touriga Nacional and Symington

[Bryan Robinson]

Does Symington really own 31% of all the Touriga Nacional grown in the Douro?

That is shocking if true. The stat comes from CataVino, in a post about Symington deciding to go organic. Does anyone know if this is true?

[Roy Hersh]

Bryan,

It is not easy to determine whether this is a fact or an urban legend. I am not sure if the Symington's can prove or disprove this claim. The Touriga Nacional grape (TNG just used here to save me some time) is as important to Douro wines as Cabernet is to Napa Valley. TNG is looked at by most as the most important component in the Port cuvee. Given that just about every Douro wine and Port uses the TNG, I'd be very surprised if the 20 something quintas owned by the Symington's have 1/3 of all TNG planted throughout the Douro. It is an enormous region and they are only the 2nd largest owner of vineyard hectares there, behind Real Companhia Velha. I think it would be quite the chore to figure this out on a very specific percentage basis and bet it would be next to impossible. There are still way too many field blends that do have TNG blended into the vineyards to be able to come up with a realistic number. I'd love to know how the figure was compiled. I am sure that Ryan or his wife were told that number by the Symington's, but it would be fun to know for sure.

[Frederick Blais]

Bryan,

The Touriga Nacional grape (TNG just used here to save me some time) is as important to Douro wines as Cabernet is to Napa Valley. TNG is looked at by most as the most important component in the Port cuvee.

I've step a bit reading this TNG is gaining in popularity for sure but it is still not in the top 3 most planted grapes in the Douro, so we can't compare it to Napa for the volume or the presence of the grape in the wine/port but I agree that its presence brings key component in all.

The key part to such statement is to know how much TNG is present in field blend, which is almost impossible to know as growers mainly don't know.

Since TNG is not planted in vast quantities in the Douro, mainly because of its very low yield, if the Symington plants many hectares on Vesuvio, they quickly raise their %amount, though 30%+ seems very high number!

[Andy Velebil]

I agree, I think it would be impossible to know exactly how much TNG are planted in the Douro. There is still so many unknown field blends that getting an acurate count is impossible.

[Roy Hersh]

Collective Port Wisdom!?!?!?!?!

Roy wrote:

I think it would be quite the chore to figure this out on a very specific percentage basis and bet it would be next to impossible. There are still way too many field blends that do have TNG blended into the vineyards to be able to come up with a realistic number

Frederick wrote:

The key part to such statement is to know how much TNG is present in field blend, which is almost impossible to know as growers mainly don't know.

Andy wrote:

I agree, I think it would be impossible to know exactly how much TNG are planted in the Douro. There is still so many unknown field blends that getting an acurate count is impossible.

[Andy Velebil]

Collective Port Wisdom!?!?!?!?!

Smart chaps, aren't we