Tinta Barroca - The Portuguese in South Africa

Fruity aromas, firm tannins and a full body characterise the deep, dark red wines made from the Tinta Barroca grape. Their naturally high sugar content makes them high in alcohol. Tinta Barroca wines are balanced, elegant and velvety.

The dark to almost black Tinta Barroca wines have an intense flavour of berries and fruit. Flavours of blackcurrant, cherry and blackberry are in the foreground, with notes of dark chocolate, vanilla, coffee and cocoa rounding off the aroma.

Dominant notes:

• Cherry
• blackberry
• Blackcurrant
• Dark chocolate
• vanilla
• coffee

Possible notes:

• Red fruit: cranberry, redcurrant, black cherry, raspberry
• Dark fruit: blackcurrant, blackberry
• Dried fruit: prune, fig
• Aged in oak: coffee, mocha, cocoa bean, vanilla, woody notes

The Tinta Barroca wines shimmer deep dark in the glass and delight with their fruity flavours. This makes them the perfect accompaniment to all meat dishes, whether rump steak and grilled vegetables, roast beef, roasted pork shoulder or even lamb. If you need a wine to go with pasta or pizza, the Tinta Barroca also shines with its flavours. If you are looking for a wine for an evening with good friends, a Tinta Barroca is also perfect.

The Douro Valley in the north of Portugal has been the main growing area for the Tinta Barroca grape for centuries. The first vines were planted there in 1899. Today, it is one of the six most important red wines from which Portuguese port wine is made. Today, the Tinta Barroca is also cultivated on a larger scale in South African vineyards. A resourceful South African winegrower brought it into the country at the end of 1920.

The red wine grape Tinta Barroca originated from a cross between Marufo and Touriga Nacional vines and is also known as Tinta Gorda, Tinta Grossa, Tinta das Baroccas, Boca de Mina, Baroccas, Barroca or Tinta Vigaria.

The Tinta Barroca is planted on around 7200 hectares in Portugal, while in South Africa the red wine vines can be found on around 400 hectares, mainly in Stellenbosch, Swartland and Little Karoo. Around three quarters of the country's Tinta Barroca wines are produced in these South African wine regions.

The Tinta Barocca vine thrives particularly well in dry wine-growing regions, as it is very robust and heat-resistant. The Tinta Barroca loves granite, gneiss and slate soils. Much to the delight of winegrowers, the early-ripening, dark blue to blue-black grapes produce good yields. Thanks to their naturally high sugar content and opulence, the deep red to almost violet-coloured wines are often used for the production of liqueur wines and port-like wines.

Tinta Barroca wines are also often blended into cuvées, but they are rarely produced as single-varietal wines and then usually come from South Africa, where the red wine grape is particularly popular in the Western Cape and whose wines have become the region's trademark. Intense, very ripe and alcohol-rich Tinta Barroca red wines in the classic style come from here, as well as a special rosé. Occasionally, Tinta Barroca is used together with Pinotage as a base wine for port-style liqueur wine production. When the winemakers age the Tinta Barroca red wine in oak barrels, warm and sensual notes dominated by berries, mocha and vanilla are created.