Red grape of interest for adaptation

Touriga Nacional

too-ree-GAH nah-syoh-NAHL
How to read this

Capitals mark the stressed syllable. The French r comes from the back of the throat. The recording is the reference.

Touriga Nacional is a black grape from Portugal, with no parents on record in VIVC, admitted in the Bordeaux rules in 2021 as a variety of interest for adaptation.

Touriga Nacional is a black grape. VIVC, the variety catalog of the Julius Kühn-Institut, gives Portugal as its country of origin, records no parents, and lists 22 Portuguese and Spanish synonyms and none in French. In Bordeaux it belongs to a class of its own, the “varieties of interest for adaptation” (“variétés d’intérêt à fin d’adaptation”), grapes admitted on trial to help an appellation face climate change. The INAO directive that governs the class, in its revision of June 3, 2021, caps them, all together, at 5% of an estate’s vines and 10% of the final blend, for a trial of 10 years that may be extended by 10 more. Each appellation’s own rules set the exact limits, listed under “In today’s rules” on this page.

The earliest Bordeaux record in my library is a research vineyard. In 2009 the EGFV research unit of the Institut des Sciences de la Vigne et du Vin planted VitAdapt near Bordeaux, 52 varieties in 5 replicates, to watch how each behaves as the climate warms. Cornelis van Leeuwen and colleagues wrote in 2019 that the plot includes later-ripening varieties from warm places, such as Touriga Nacional, and that its average véraison dates spanned 34 days over 2012 to 2018. Louise Durand’s 2012 report from the plot already lists Touriga Nacional among the vines measured there.

Then came the rules. The arrêtés of March 22, 2021, published in the Journal officiel on March 30, admitted Touriga Nacional in AOC Bordeaux, for red, rosé, and clairet, and in Bordeaux Supérieur, beside Arinarnoa, Castets, and Marselan. The Médoc rules homologated on October 21, 2022 name the same 4 reds, as do the Haut-Médoc and Listrac-Médoc rules homologated on July 31, 2025. A grower plants it only under a convention signed with INAO and the appellation’s growers’ body. A 2023 presentation by the Chambre d’agriculture de la Gironde counted about 16 hectares in the department.

Oldest record in my library: “the Touriga”, 1851, in Cyrus Redding, A History and Description of Modern Wines (the Douro); “Touriga”, 1854, in Alexandre-Pierre Odart, Ampélographie universelle; near Bordeaux, Louise Durand, report on the VitAdapt plot, 2012, on vines planted in 2009 (van Leeuwen and colleagues, Agronomy, 2019)

The family

Parents unknown.

Touriga Nacional

The discovery: In 2019, Cornelis van Leeuwen and colleagues reported that average véraison dates in the VitAdapt plot near Bordeaux spanned 34 days, with Touriga Nacional among its later-ripening grapes.

In today’s rules

Admitted for adaptation (red) in 5 of the appellations and designations on this site; admitted for adaptation (rosé) in 1.

Admitted for adaptation · red
Bordeaux (red and clairet; with the other adaptation varieties: up to 5% of the estate’s vines for that color and up to 10% of each lot for sale), Bordeaux Supérieur (with the other adaptation varieties: up to 5% of the estate’s red vines and below 10% of each lot for sale), Haut-Médoc (with the other adaptation varieties: up to 5% of the estate’s vines for that color and up to 10% of each lot for sale), Listrac-Médoc (with the other adaptation varieties: up to 5% of the estate’s vines for that color and up to 10% of each lot for sale), Médoc (with the other adaptation varieties: up to 5% of the estate’s vines for that color and up to 10% of each lot for sale)
Admitted for adaptation · rosé
Bordeaux (with the other adaptation varieties: up to 5% of the estate’s vines for that color and up to 10% of each lot for sale)

Area planted

  • 16 ha planted area, Gironde (department 33), data year not stated (2023 presentation)
    Chambre d'agriculture de la Gironde, PNDV Tour 2023, 'Évolution et pilotage de l'encépagement' (Charlier, Vecchiato), slide 28 'Variétés à l'étude (ODG Bordeaux, Bx Supérieur)', header 'Surfaces plantées (33)', https://gironde.chambre-agriculture.fr/fileadmin/user_upload/Nouvelle-Aquitaine/100_Inst-Gironde/Documents/pdf_home_page_actualites/2023/PNDV_TOUR_2023_Evolution_et_pilotage_de_l_encepagement_CHARLIER_VECCHIATO.pdf, accessed 2026-10-12

Timeline

  1. 2019The INAO national committee approves the framework convention for varieties of interest for adaptation (June 18, 2019), the legal route for these grapes into Bordeaux.
    Cahier des charges AOC Bordeaux supérieur (opposition draft after CNAOV opinion of November 18, 2020), V.1: 'convention cadre approuvée par le comité national compétent le 18 juin 2019', https://extranet.inao.gouv.fr/fichier/3-CDC-Bordeaux-Supérieur.pdf
  2. 2021Admitted as a variety of interest for adaptation in AOC Bordeaux and Bordeaux Supérieur (red).
    Arrêtés of March 22, 2021 homologating the cahiers des charges of AOC Bordeaux (NOR AGRT2106893A) and AOC Bordeaux supérieur (NOR AGRT2106889A), Journal officiel, March 30, 2021. The grapes and their limits are in the cahiers published in the Bulletin officiel of the Ministry of Agriculture (links printed in each arrêté), as set out in INAO's drafts after the national committee's opinion of November 18, 2020: https://winewitandwisdomswe.com/wp-content/uploads/2021/01/Cahier-des-Charges-AOC-Bordeaux-updated-November-2020.pdf and https://extranet.inao.gouv.fr/fichier/3-CDC-Bordeaux-Supérieur.pdf
  3. 2023About 16 ha planted in the Gironde, as reported in November 2023.
    Chambre d'agriculture de la Gironde, PNDV Tour 2023, 'Évolution et pilotage de l'encépagement' (Charlier, Vecchiato), slide 28 'Variétés à l'étude (ODG Bordeaux, Bx Supérieur)', header 'Surfaces plantées (33)', https://gironde.chambre-agriculture.fr/fileadmin/user_upload/Nouvelle-Aquitaine/100_Inst-Gironde/Documents/pdf_home_page_actualites/2023/PNDV_TOUR_2023_Evolution_et_pilotage_de_l_encepagement_CHARLIER_VECCHIATO.pdf, accessed 2026-10-12

In the lab

More than 467 studies and theses in the Bordeaux Reviews library mention this grape.

Sources

  • Röckel et al. (2026): Vitis International Variety Catalogue, www.vivc.de, passport id 12594, accessed October 2026
  • INAO, directive INAO-DIR-CNAOV-2018-01 rev2 on varieties of interest for adaptation, dated June 3, 2021 (Comité national, sessions of June 2 and 3, 2021): 5% of the holding's plantings, 10% of the final blend for the color, 10 years extendable by up to 10, https://inao.gouv.fr/sites/default/files/2024-09/DIR-VIFA-062021-Rev2-1.pdf, accessed October 2026
  • Arrêtés of March 22, 2021 homologating the cahiers des charges of AOC Bordeaux (NOR AGRT2106893A) and AOC Bordeaux supérieur (NOR AGRT2106889A), Journal officiel, March 30, 2021. The grapes and their limits are in the cahiers published in the Bulletin officiel of the Ministry of Agriculture (links printed in each arrêté), as set out in INAO's drafts after the national committee's opinion of November 18, 2020: https://winewitandwisdomswe.com/wp-content/uploads/2021/01/Cahier-des-Charges-AOC-Bordeaux-updated-November-2020.pdf and https://extranet.inao.gouv.fr/fichier/3-CDC-Bordeaux-Supérieur.pdf
  • INAO, cahier des charges AOC 'Bordeaux', national opposition draft after the Comité national opinion of November 18, 2020, sections V.1, V.2 and IX.1 (convention cadre of June 18, 2019), copy at https://winewitandwisdomswe.com/wp-content/uploads/2021/01/Cahier-des-Charges-AOC-Bordeaux-updated-November-2020.pdf, accessed October 2026
  • INAO, cahier des charges AOC 'Bordeaux supérieur', opposition draft after the Comité national opinion of November 18, 2020, https://extranet.inao.gouv.fr/fichier/3-CDC-Bordeaux-Supérieur.pdf
  • Cahiers des charges AOC 'Médoc' and 'Haut-Médoc', 'homologué par l'arrêté du 26 octobre 2021, publié au JORF du 5 novembre 2021', sections V.1, V.2 and IX.1 ('variétés d'intérêt à fin d'adaptation'), https://extranet.inao.gouv.fr/fichier/3.1-CDC-Medoc.pdf and https://extranet.inao.gouv.fr/fichier/3.2-CDC-Haut-Medoc.pdf, accessed October 2026
  • INAO, modification of the cahier des charges AOP 'Listrac-Médoc' adopted by the Comité national on February 6, 2025, sections V.1 and V.2, https://extranet.inao.gouv.fr/fichier/2-PNO-CDC-Listrac-Medoc.pdf, accessed October 2026
  • Chambre d'agriculture de la Gironde, PNDV Tour 2023, 'Évolution et pilotage de l'encépagement' (Charlier, Vecchiato), slide 28 'Variétés à l'étude (ODG Bordeaux, Bx Supérieur)', header 'Surfaces plantées (33)', https://gironde.chambre-agriculture.fr/fileadmin/user_upload/Nouvelle-Aquitaine/100_Inst-Gironde/Documents/pdf_home_page_actualites/2023/PNDV_TOUR_2023_Evolution_et_pilotage_de_l_encepagement_CHARLIER_VECCHIATO.pdf, accessed October 2026 (no data year stated)
  • Cornelis van Leeuwen, Agnès Destrac-Irvine, Matthieu Dubernet et al., 'An Update on the Impact of Climate Change in Viticulture and Potential Adaptations', Agronomy 9:514, 2019, pp. 9-10
  • Louise Durand, 'Mise en place d'un protocole de traitement de données pour l'étude de l'adaptation d'une large gamme de cépages aux évolutions climatiques en Bordelais', 2012, figures 8 and 10 and tables
  • Pierre Gastou, Lucas Etienne, Lucia Guérin-Dubrana, Chloé Delmas, 'Gradient of grapevine varietal susceptibility to esca', IVES Technical Reviews, 2024, for the VitAdapt site at INRAE Grande Ferrade, Villenave d'Ornon
  • Cyrus Redding, A History and Description of Modern Wines, 1851 edition, Portugal
  • Alexandre-Pierre Odart, Ampélographie universelle, ou Traité des cépages les plus estimés, 3rd ed., Paris, 1854
  • Röckel et al. (2026): Vitis International Variety Catalogue, www.vivc.de, accessed October 2026

Every grape

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