Tinta Francisca

Tinta Francisca is a minor Douro variety with a name that means French red, and there has long been a belief locally that it arrived from Burgundy — a claim sometimes extended to suggest it is Pinot Noir. DNA analysis has disproved that; it is a distinct Portuguese variety and its origins are unclear.

It is one of the many grapes historically permitted in Port, and it was once reasonably widely planted, though it has declined substantially as growers have concentrated on the five varieties now considered best: Touriga Nacional, Touriga Franca, Tinta Roriz, Tinta Barroca and Tinto Cão.

Its contribution is aromatic rather than structural. Tinta Francisca gives a perfumed, elegant, relatively pale wine with red fruit — raspberry, red plum, cherry — and floral notes of rose and violet, with modest tannin and moderate acidity. In a blend it lifts the heavier, darker components.

It performs best on cooler, higher sites; in the hottest parts of the Douro it ripens too fast and loses the fragrance that is its main asset.

Single-varietal bottlings are very rare, and it is almost never seen outside Portugal. Where it does appear alone, as an occasional Douro table wine, it produces a light, fragrant red closer in style to a Loire red than to the dense wines the region is known for.

It is worth noting that Portugal has an unusually large number of indigenous varieties, many of them, like this one, surviving as minor components of old mixed plantings.