The house grapes · red
Tinta Roriz, Aragonez, Tempranillo: three names, one grape
Tinta Roriz, Aragonez and Tempranillo are the same grape.
- Color
- Red
- On Vinhozinho
- 240 labels have Tinta Roriz · 16 made from Tinta Roriz alone · from 5 countries
- Price
- lowest: up to R$ 60 · highest: over R$ 300 · see the wines
- Family
- the offspring of Albillo Mayor and Benedicto
The name changes with the address; the plant is one and the same. In the glass, it makes a deeply colored red with ripe fruit, a touch of spice and calmer acidity, easy to bring to the table.
What it's like in the glass
Deep color and ripe fruit: plum, blackberry, strawberry. A touch of spice and, sometimes, of flowers, like violet. Tannin that's present without scraping your mouth, and a body that runs from medium to full.
Acidity is its calm side: the IVDP speaks of medium acidity, INIAV of low acidity. That's why the sip feels soft. When it spends a long time in barrels, it picks up the flavor of the wood: vanilla, coconut, cocoa.
Three names, one grape
It's not a figure of speech. VIVC, the international catalog of grape varieties, registers the variety as Tempranillo Tinto and lists Aragonez and Tinta Roriz as its official names in Portugal. The name follows the map: in the Douro and the Dão, it's Tinta Roriz; in other Portuguese regions, like Alentejo, it's Aragonez (or Aragonês); in Spain, Tempranillo.
In the house search, Tinta Roriz and Aragonez show up as separate buttons, because that's how each label writes it. Found one? Click the other too: it's the same grape. And the confusion isn't just ours. The official grape list of the Indication of Provenance (IP) Vale do São Francisco, published by INPI, Brazil's intellectual property office, in 2022, has Aragonês and Tempranillo on separate lines.
Where it comes from
From Spain. VIVC records a Spanish origin, and a genetic study published in 2012 identified its parents: Albillo Mayor and Benedicto, two Spanish grapes. Rioja considers itself its homeland. The name comes from temprano, which means early: it's a grape that ripens before many others.
In Portugal, INIAV, the public agricultural research institute, found a record of it in the Douro in 1822, under the name Aragonez. The name Tinta Roriz, on the other hand, doesn't appear on paper anywhere before 1880, which led the institute to suggest that the grape may have entered the country through Alentejo.
Drink it young or let it age?
It depends on who makes it. With lots of grapes per vine, you get a simple wine that keeps its color but loses freshness and fruit after a few years, according to INIAV: that one is for drinking young. With controlled yields and more concentrated bunches, it makes reds that last for years and gain elegance with age, says the IVDP. In Rioja, the same grape makes everything from rosé to age-worthy reds.
What it pairs with
It's a grape for everyday food. Grilled sausage, pork ribs, roast pork leg, feijão tropeiro (beans with farofa and pork), cozido (a meat and vegetable stew), calabresa sausage pizza, burgers. The oaked versions call for lamb and aged cheese.
Want it the Portuguese way? Wines of Portugal suggests bacalhau (salt cod) and red meat stew. But the table is yours: if you liked it with something else, go ahead, and how nice that you found that out.
Where it shines today
On the site's pages, the regions where Tinta Roriz shows up most among the labels in the house list. The number counts labels.
Portugal: it's the grape with the most planted area in the country, 16,700 hectares, 10% of the mainland vineyard, according to the IVV (Instituto da Vinha e do Vinho), 2025 data. In the Douro, it was the second most planted in 2023, with 6,163 hectares, according to the IVDP (Instituto dos Vinhos do Douro e do Porto), and it stands out in Douro wines and Port, almost always blended with the two Tourigas. In Alentejo, as Aragonez, it shares the blend with Trincadeira and Alicante Bouschet.
Spain: it covers most of the vineyards in Rioja and is the main grape of Ribera del Duero, where it goes by Tinto Fino or Tinta del País. It also picks up regional nicknames, like Cencibel and Ull de Llebre (“hare's eye”, in Catalan). Brazil: Embrapa points to high-quality Tempranillo in Campanha Gaúcha and the Vale do São Francisco.
To start with: Tinta Roriz by price range
The price range the house saw at big stores in Brazil, in the month shown. The price changes; the range tends to stay.
- Miolo Seleção Cabernet Sauvignon-Tempranillo Roséup to R$ 60checked Sep 2026
- Portada Winemaker's Selection RoséR$ 60 to 100checked Sep 2026
- Porto Ferreira Tawny PortR$ 100 to 150checked Sep 2026
- Quinta do Crasto Crasto Superior RedR$ 200 to 300checked Sep 2026
- Casa Ferreirinha Barca Velha Douroover R$ 300checked Sep 2026
Throwing a party? How many bottles to buy →
Top rated with Tinta Roriz
Average rating from the people who drank it (X-Wines), from 1 to 5. Tap to see the wine's page.
- Casa Ferreirinha Barca Velha Dourorating ★ 4.8
- Cartuxa Pêra-Manca Tintorating ★ 4.8
- Casa Ferreirinha Reserva Especial Dourorating ★ 4.7
- Quinta do Vale Meão Dourorating ★ 4.7
- W. & J. Graham's Single Harvest Tawny Portrating ★ 4.7
- Dow's Vintage Portrating ★ 4.5
- Miolo Seival Estate Sesmariasrating ★ 4.5
- Warre's Vintage Portrating ★ 4.5
See all 240 labels with Tinta Roriz in the search →
Key dates
- 1822 Gyrão mentions Aragonez grown in the Douro
- 1880 Until this year, no record mentions Tinta Roriz, hence the hypothesis that it entered Portugal via Alentejo
- 2012 A genetic study identifies Albillo Mayor and Benedicto as the parents of Tempranillo
- 2022 November 1: the IP Vale do São Francisco grape list comes out with Aragonês and Tempranillo as separate items
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