Julia's Portuguese Marathon – Douro

See the guide to Julia's Portuguese marathon for further articles in the series – those already published and those set for publication this week.

These 331 tasting notes were taken over an extended period of time while I was selecting my top 50 Portuguese wines, starting back in October 2011, when I visited several producers in the Douro Superior, up towards the Spanish border (having visited the heart of the Douro on several other occasions): Quinta da Ervamoira, Quinta do Vale do Meão, Quinta do Couquinho and Quinta da Leda (owned by Sogrape). Many of the wines were gathered together at a regional tasting not long after that, and the rest were tasted on many and various occasions in Portugal and in London.

Apart from a small group of Dalva ports at the every end, these were all unfortified wines as my remit for the top 50 excluded fortified wines from the Douro and Madeira. (The reason is entirely pragmatic and a little dull: ViniPortugal, who run the top 50 programme, do not represent port or madeira, which have their own promotional bodies.) But I was delighted to take a break from rich, powerful reds and complex whites to taste these older Dalva tawnies and especially the miraculously fresh sweet old white ports – purely for pleasure.

I haven't actually counted, but I wouldn't be in the least bit surprised to find that there are more articles on Douro table wines on this site than there are on the wines of any other region of Portugal, even though these wines were neglected for many years once port became popular and well established in the 18th century. Most sources would say that the renaissance of Douro table wines began with Barca Velha in the Douro Superior in the 1950s (see the Oxford Companion entry on the Douro) but it is really in the last 30 or so years that they have come more widely into their own, with vineyards more obviously cultivated for this specific purpose and winemaking facilities brought up to date and able to produce fine wines in the extremely harsh conditions of the Douro Valley.

Today the quality of table wines in the Douro is exceptional, although there is still in my opinion a (diminishing) tendency to overoak these deeply coloured and rich-fruited nectars. And there is a much wider range of styles than there was even ten years ago, with many more examples revealing finesse, freshness and a specific origin rather than a blunderbuss of ripe, sometimes port-like fruit. Many of my favourite red wines have a sort of dark savoury character and very fine, tightly packed tannins, particularly in youth, that I am often tempted to describe as coal-like, though I fear that may not sound as positive as it is intended. Whites, too, especially those made from indigenous varieties, old vines, often field blends, show a wonderful density and complexity that marry well with oak and age remarkably well where freshness has been coaxed and treasured.

As with each region of Portugal that was part of this marathon, there is so much more to say, a book to be written, but, as Jancis will tell you, we have quite enough of those in the pipeline at the moment. If you do want to read more widely on the Douro, I recommend Richard Mayson's recently revised work Port and the Douro, although he does focus more on port than on the table wines.

The notes below are presented in alphabetical order by producer (sur)name, and then whites before reds for each one. Only one producer chose to show me a rosé. Where I tasted the same wine more than once (ie on different occasions in different locations), I have kept both notes in the hope that they will give a fuller picture rather than confuse. NB if you click on the wine name, you can see the date tasted in the more detailed search results. GV = good value; VGV = very good value.

ÁGUIA MOURA