Dão

Wine region
Official name	Dão-Lafões
Type	Denominação de Origem Controlada
Country	Portugal
Part of	Centro, Portugal
Climate region	Temperate
Soil conditions	Sandy on top of Granite
Grapes produced	Touriga Nacional, Tinta Roriz, Jaen, Alfrocheiro Preto and Encruzado
Wine produced	Dão wine

Dão is a Portuguese wine region situated in the Região Demarcada do Dão with the Dão-Lafões sub region of the Centro, Portugal. It is one of the oldest established wine regions in Portugal. Dão wine is produced in a mountainous region with a temperate climate, in the area of the Rio Mondego and Dão rivers in the north central region of Portugal.^[1] The region became a Denominação de Origem Controlada (DOC) appellation in 1990. The Dão region is the origin of the Touriga Nacional vine that is the principal component of Port wine.^[2]

Climate and geography[link]

The wine region is located primarily on a plateau that is sheltered on three sides by the granite mountain ranges of Serra da Estrela, Serra do Caramulo and Serra da Nave. This helps the area maintain its temperate climate away from the effects of the nearby Atlantic Ocean. The region experiences abundant rainfall in the winter months and long, warm dry summers leading up to harvest. The region's vineyards are planted on sandy well-drained soil on top of granite rock.^[2]

History[link]

The Dão was first officially recognized as a Região Demarcada in 1908. In the 1940s, to improve the quality of the wine from the region and promote some sort of national identity, the government of Prime Minister António de Oliveira Salazar instituted new regulation establishing the mandatory use of co-operatives in the region. These co-operatives would have exclusive privilege to the grapes grown in the region and where charged with making the wine that would be sold to private merchants. Despite its intent, the regulations had an adverse effect on the Dão wine region by promoting stagnation due to lack of competition with some co-operative firms releasing inferior quality wine and even practice un-hygienic winemaking. In 1979, Portugal's application to the European Union prompted authorities to overturn these rules passed on the EU discouragement of monopolistic practices in the wine industry.^[2]

Viticulture and wines[link]

The area is home to several dozen varieties of indigenous grapes with the majority of wine production being made from the Touriga Nacional, Tinta Roriz, Jaen, Alfrocheiro Preto and Encruzado. 80% of the region's production is in red wines with DOC regulations stipulating that at least 20% of the production must be from Touriga Nacional.^[2] Some of the top reserve wine may carry the designation Dão nobre (meaning noble Dão).^[3] Another reserve designation Garrafeira requires wines to be 0.5% higher in alcohol content then the 12.5% minimum and to spend at least 2 years in aging in oak. The maximum yield for red wine grapes is 70 hl/ha.^[4]

The red wines tend to be very tannic due to prolong periods of maceration during winemaking. Many producers make liberal use of French and Portuguese oak. The style has been improving with some producers concentrating on make more fruit-forward styles with smoother tannins.^[1] Historically the white wines were known for being over oxidized and full bodied but more modern winemaking has been producing white wines that are fresh, fruity and fragrant. The Encruzado is the principal grape of the area's whites with some blend of Malvasia Fina and Bical.^[2]Garrafeira white wines require at least 0.5% more alcohol by volume then the 11.5% DOC minimum and at least 6 months aging in oak. The maximum allowable yields for white wine grapes is 80 hl/ha.^[4]

Subregions[link]

There are seven subregions within Dão which may be indicated on labels together with Dão:^[5]

• Alva
• Besteiros
• Castendo
• Serra da Estrela
• Silgueiros
• Terras de Azurara
• Terras de Senhorim

See also[link]

• List of Portuguese wine regions

References[link]

External links[link]

• Spotlight on Portugal's Dão region

Look up doc or DOC in Wiktionary, the free dictionary.

DOC, Doc or doc may refer to:

Media[link]

• Doc (TV series), a 2001-2004 PAX series
• Doc (1975 TV series), a 1975-1976 CBS sitcom
• "D.O.C." (Lost), a television episode
• Doc Films, a University of Chicago film society
• Doc (film), a 1971 Western film
• Documentary Organization of Canada, known as DOC, is a non-profit organization supporting documentary filmmakers in Canada

Computing[link]

• DOC (computing), a word processing file format, typically used by Microsoft Word.
• DiskOnChip, a type of flash memory device
• Dave's own version of Citadel, a bulletin board software variant

Food and wine appellations[link]

• Denominazione di origine controllata, an Italian level of classification
• Denominação de Origem Controlada, a Portuguese level of classification
• Denominación de Origen Calificada, a Spanish level of classification

People[link]

"Doc" is a common slang term for a physician; dentist; or, in the US Military, a Hospital Corpsman.

• Doc Blanchard (1924-2009), American football player and fighter pilot
• Doc Brown (rapper), British rapper and comedian
• Doc Hammer, American musician and writer of The Venture Bros
• Doc Holliday (1851-1887), American dentist, gunfighter, and gambler
• Doc Medich (b. 1948), American baseball player
• Doc Neeson (b. 1947), Irish-born Australian rock singer
• Doc Pomus (1925-1991), American blues singer and songwriter
• Doc Rivers (b. 1961), American basketball player and coach
• Doc Searls (b. 1947), journalist and author
• Doc Severinsen (b. 1927), American trumpeter and bandleader
• Doc Shaw (b. 1992), American actor, singer and rapper
• Doc Watson (b. 1923), American musician and songwriter
• A.A. Ames (1842-1911), American politician
• Mike Emrick (b. 1946), American hockey broadcaster
• Dwight Gooden (b. 1964), American baseball player
• Roy Halladay (b. 1977), American baseball player
• Harold L. Humes (1926-1992), American writer and activist
• Donald Minnegan (1902-2002), former coach and athletic director at Towson University
• Donncha O'Callaghan (b. 1979), Irish rugby union footballer
• Krzysztof Raczkowski (1970-2005), musician
• E. E. Smith (1890-1965), American science fiction writer
• The D.O.C., American rapper

Fictional characters[link]

• Doc (Buffyverse), a character in Buffy the Vampire Slayer
• Doc (Chrono Cross)
• Doc (G.I. Joe), two characters in the G.I. Joe universe
• Doc (cartoon character), an animated cat introduced by Walter Lantz Studios in 1959
• Doc Daneeka, a character in the novel Catch-22
• Doc Hudson, a character in the film Cars
• Doc Louis, a character in the video game series Punch-Out!!
• Doc Savage, a character in pulp fiction
• Emmett Brown, a scientist from Back to the Future
• Monte 'Doc' Parker, a character in the series Third Watch
• Doc, a character in the series Fraggle Rock
• Doc, a character in the series Red vs. Blue
• Doc, a character in the film Snow White and the Seven Dwarfs (generally considered to be the head dwarf, as he leads them from the diamond mine home and makes the decision to allow Snow White to become their resident housekeeper)
• Doc Saturday, a character in the series The Secret Saturdays
• Doc Boy, a character from the Garfield series

Medicine[link]

• DOC, an abbreviation for drug of choice in pharmacology
• DOC, an abbreviation for either of two different drugs:
  • 11-Deoxycorticosterone, a steroid hormone, or
  • 2,5-Dimethoxy-4-chloroamphetamine, a psychedelic amphetamine

Other uses[link]

• Dartmouth Outing Club
• Day-old cockerel, a term in falconry
• Department of Conservation (New Zealand)
• Department of Corrections (various)
• United States Department of Commerce
• Diesel Oxidation Catalyst, a diesel retrofit system for automobiles
• Dissolved organic carbon, a molecule classification
• Doc (mascot), the Towson University mascot
• Dominion of Canada
• Dóc, a village in Csongrád County, Hungary
• Dóc, the Hungarian name for Dolaţ village, Livezile Commune, Timiş County, Romania
• ISO 639-3 code for the North Dong language or dialect

See also[link]

• Dock (disambiguation)
• Documentation

This disambiguation page lists articles associated with the same title. If an internal link led you here, you may wish to change the link to point directly to the intended article.