Dao

Located just south of the Douro Valley, the Dao region is one of Portuguese oldest wine regions. A mountainous region interspersed with pine forests, elevation ranges from approximately 200m up to 1000m in the Serra da Estrela. The climate here is warm but temperate, altitude and the physical barrier of the mountains providing some respite from the extremes of the Atlantic to the west and hot continentality to the east. The soils in the Dao are predominantly granite-based and traditional field blends are still common. The region plays home to a whole host of native grape varieties such as Encruzado, Bical, Gouveio, Malvasia Fina, Cerceal Branco, Jaen, Alfrochiero, Bastardo and Touriga Nacional.