Touriga Francesa

Infobox grape variety
name = Touriga Francesa


caption =
species = "Vitis vinifera"
also_called = Touriga Franca (more)
origin = Portugal
hazards =
regions = Douro, Dão
notable_wines = Port

Touriga Francesa (or Touriga Franca) is one of the major grape varieties used to produce port wine. Touriga Francesa is lighter and more perfumed than Touriga Nacional and adds finesse to this powerful wine. Touriga Francesa has been described by Jancis Robinson as playing "Cabernet Franc to Touriga Nacional’s Cabernet Sauvignon". J. Robinson "Vines, Grapes & Wines" pg 216 Mitchell Beazley 1986 ISBN 1857329996 ]

The Touriga grapes have become increasingly popular for making unfortified wines in the Douro and Dão. Touriga Francesa does not give as much structure as Touriga Nacional, but it has many of the same qualities, and its floral character and in particular the better yields have made it the fifth most planted grape in Portugal.

The official name became Touriga Franca in 2002, ostensibly to reduce confusion with the separate grape Touriga Francisca, in reality because the French had raised legal objections to the name. Only New World winemakers seem to actually use the name Touriga Franca, the Portuguese seem to have carried on using Touriga Francesa.

History

Not much is known about the origins of Portuguese grapes, but they were probably brought by the Phoenicians. Touriga Francesa is probably related to Touriga Nacional.

From its home in Northern Portugal, Touriga Francesa has since been planted in the New World by producers of New World 'ports' seeking to produce a wine more like the original.

Distribution and Wines

Australia

There have been experiments with the port grapes in Australia.

Portugal

Touriga Francesa is the fifth most planted grape in Portugal, with 7,440 hectares. It plays an important part in port blends. Like Nacional, the variety is increasingly being used for unfortified red wine in the Douro and in the Dão.

USA

Traditionally a lot of US wine was fortified, and many of the producers of such 'port' have experimented with using Portuguese grapes as a way to improve their product. [cite web | last = Goldfarb | first = Alan | authorlink = | coauthors = | title = A visit to Prager Port Works: Has the ship finally come in for California Port-style wines? | work = | publisher = Appellation America | date = 2007-03-23 | url = http://wine.appellationamerica.com/wine-review/369/Prager-California-Port-Wines.html | format = | doi = | accessdate = 2007-04-30 Great article on the new Californian 'ports'.]

Vine and Viticulture

Viticulturally, Touriga Francesa is quite similar to Touriga Nacional - to keep the vigorous vine under control it needs harsh conditions, which it certainly gets on the steep arid slopes of the Douro. It is usually trained low to the ground under one of the Guyot systems. Yields are low, but not as bad as Touriga Nacional.

ynonyms

Albino de Souza, Esgana Cao, Rifete, Tourigo Frances,cite web | last =Maul | first =E. | authorlink = | coauthors = Eibach, R. | title = Vitis International Variety Catalogue | work = | publisher = Information and Coordination Centre for Biological Diversity (IBV) of the Federal Agency for Agriculture and Food (BLE), Deichmanns Aue 29, 53179 Bonn, Germany | date = 1999-06-00 | url = http://www.genres.de/idb/vitis/ | format = | doi = | accessdate = 2007-04-30] Touriga Franca, Touriga Francesca.

As has already been mentioned, in theory Touriga Franca is now the officially recommended name. You will see Touriga Franca on New World varietals, but in Portugal, even the IVDP don't use it.

There is another variety called Albino de Souza, which is different from this one.

ee also

*List of Port wine grapes

Notes and references

Further reading

* Robinson, Jancis "Vines, Grapes & Wines" Mitchell Beazley 1986 ISBN 1857329996

External links

* [http://www.ivp.pt/pagina.asp?idioma=1&codPag=17&codSeccao=4 Instituto dos Vinho do Douro e Porto]