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Dao is one of Portugal’s most promising wine regions, but has had a reputation for rarely delivering on its full potential. This is slowly changing, as international wine media attention and improvements in production (and marketing) have helped the region to start shining. The top Dao wines are now some of the most highly rated in Europe, winning consistent praise on both sides of the Atlantic.

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Dao viticultural region lies south of the better-known Douro, source of Portugal’s most famous wine, Port. It takes its name from the Dao river, along which the majority of the region’s vineyards are located. The Dao is a tributary of the larger Mondego (Portugal’s longest river) and the Pavia, Alva, Criz, Coja, Carapito, Satao and Ceira rivers also flow through the region. However, only one is significant enough to have the local DOC named after it. The reason is granite – the tough, crystaline rock through which the Dao river has carved its path over many millennia.

To the north, south and east of the Dao Valley are the granite mountains of eastern Beiras. These are the same peaks which separate Beira Litoral (coastal Beira) from Beira Interior (inland Beira), and the Dao and Douro rivers. As a result of this protected position, the climate along the Dao is relatively mild, stable and consistent between vineyard sites. Naturally, this creates a homogenization of the region’s terroir; whether this is a bad or good thing is open to debate.

The majority of Dao’s quality vineyards are situated at altitudes between 500 and 1500ft (150–450m) above sea level. This elevation raises the vines out of the valley’s shadows and towards all-important sunshine, allowing them to maximize their photosynthesis time during the day. It also increases diurnal temperature variation, helping the grapes cool down at night, which they must do to retain the acids so desirable in wine

Portugal’s complex array of vine varieties (and their many synonyms) is the bane of ampelographers. Some of these are endemic to Portugal (Touriga Nacional), some are shared with neighboring Spain and masquerade under a variety of pseudonyms (Tinta Roriz/Tempranillo), and an increasing number have proved internationally popular over the past few decades (Cabernet Sauvignon and Chardonnay). Happily, the current success of Portuguese wines has not heavily depended on the latter category, as has been the case in other renascent wine countries (Italy the most notable among them), which bodes well for the future stability of this paradoxically Old World/New World country.