Douro wine: terraced schist viticulture

Douro Valley, Portugal

The Douro Valley — carved by the Douro river through 100 million-year-old schist and granite — produces both port wine and increasingly significant unfortified table wines (Douro DOC) from the same dramatic terraced vineyards. The schist soils (xisto) are the key: they retain heat through the day (temperatures above 40°C in summer are common), channel rainwater down to the roots through their fractured structure, and produce wines of extraordinary mineral concentration. The indigenous grape varieties of the Douro — Touriga Nacional, Touriga Franca, Tinta Roriz, Tinta Barroca — were developed specifically for the combination of extreme heat, dry summers, and schist minerality. The wines produced from them (Douro DOC reds) are among Portugal's most internationally acclaimed table wines.

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