Despite the low yields from its small grapes, it plays a big part in the blends used for ports, and is increasingly being used for table wine in the Douro and Dão.

Touriga Nacional provides structure and body to wine, with high tannins and concentrated flavors of black fruit.

In recent years, scientists have been working on cloning the Touriga Nacional to produce vines that are able to pollinate better with the goal of increasing yields by 15% and sugar content by 10%.

Traditionally a lot of US wine was fortified, and many of the producers of such 'port' have experimented with using Portuguese grapes as a way to improve their product.

[3] The tiny berries of Touriga Nacional have a high skin to pulp ratio which heightens the amount of extract in the wines.