Do Tejo

Styles

Principal grape varieties

Terroir

• The main orographic feature of the Do Tejo appellation is the Serra de Aires e Candeeiros mountain range, which delimits what may be called the Upper and Lower Tejo.
• The River Tejo shapes agricultural activity throughout the Do Tejo appellation owing to its characteristically irregular flooding patterns; the vine is generally the crop least affected by these events, thanks to flow management by the river's dams.
• The Do Tejo appellation has mean temperatures of between 15.5 °C and 16.5 °C, approximately 2,800 hours of sunshine per year, and mean annual rainfall of 750 mm, higher in the north, in the Tomar area, and lower in the south, in the Coruche area.
• The Cartaxo Vitivinicultural Zone has, in its Campo area, Quaternary alluvial soils with layers of rounded gravel, coarse sand, fine sand, and fine clay, on flat terrain lying between six and ten metres in altitude.
• In the Cartaxo sub-region, the Bairro soils formed in the Lacustrine Miocene are composed of marls or ferruginous limestones, giving rise to red or yellow Mediterranean soils on undulating terrain that reaches 200 metres in altitude at certain points.

• Viticulture in the Do Tejo appellation predates Portuguese nationhood, attested by papyrus manuscripts from the time of the Romans, who are regarded as the principal introducers of vine cultivation in the region.
• The peak of trade in these wines occurred mainly in the thirteenth century, with exports to England alone reaching almost 30,000 pipes.

• The red wine displays a colour ranging from ruby to deep red, evolving towards garnet and brownish hues.
• The wines show a young, fruity and/or floral aroma and flavour when young, evolving with age towards more complex tertiary aromas.

Facts drawn from the specification's terroir-link section by automatic interpretation — see the specification (caderno de especificações).

Sub-regiões

• Almeirim DOC (PDO)
• Cartaxo DOC (PDO)
• Chamusca DOC (PDO)
• Coruche DOC (PDO)
• Santarém DOC (PDO)
• Tomar DOC (PDO)

All appellations in Portugal

Sources

• eAmbrosia register (EU) — File number PDO-PT-A1544
• Official trade body site — Comissão Vitivinícola Regional do Tejo