A range from the Douro: Niepoort fortified
and unfortified wines
A guest
review, by Tim James
Wines on offer en primeur from the
Wine
Cellar in Cape Town
Contact
Roland Peens for further
information
The
Douro region of Portugal – that ruggedly beautiful river-centred valley that
stretches between Oporto and the Spanish border, where the Douro becomes the
Duero – has long been famous for its port. For some years now it has also
been producing some interesting and serious (and some ordinary) modern table
wine, mostly reds from the same native varieties used in the fortified
wines: touriga nacional above all, but also tinta barroca, touriga franca,
tinta cão and others.
Dirk van der
Niepoort, of the port house of Niepoort, has been amongst the foremost such
diversifying producers, with a range of table wines to accompany the various
tawny (that is, wood-matured) and ruby (mostly bottle-matured) ports for
which the name is famous. The wines have been widely well-received,
including by the all-important Robert Parker in the USA – for reasons that
became plain at a tasting of samples of the range that are going to be
brought into the country by the ever-dynamic team at the Wine Cellar in Cape
Town. Not that the table wines are really ‘Parkerised’, but they are
thoroughly modern and full of flavour and texture – some of them arguably
bordering on being ‘international style’ rather than distinctively regional.
This is the price sometimes paid for sophistication in winemaking, of
course, when one eye is kept focused on the most important market of all.
The wines are
not available in South Africa yet – but they are available for purchasing in
advance, at a decent discount of 12.5% on the projected selling price. The
prices mentioned below are those final prices; if you order and pay before
the middle of May, take off the discount.
There are two
dry white 2006 blends from old vine grapes (from varieties you and I have
never heard of): Redoma Branco (R160) and Tiara Branco (R135).
At our tasting we tried the 2005 versions, and they were rich, weighty and
aromatic, with enough structure for food. The Redoma is noticeably wooded,
but not too much to obscure the peach and almond tones.
There are three
red table wines on offer, from various combinations of the port varieties.
The Vertente Tinto 2004 (it is the 2005 that is on offer; it should
be of similar character) was not, to my mind, worth the R145 (pre-discount)
asked for it, though some others found it more interesting than I did. It is
a big, warm country wine, very ripe and fruity though not lacking freshness,
with soft tannins lurking amongst the plush.
The Redoma
Tinto 2004 (R280) was much more interesting and succulently savoury,
still velvety in texture, but rather more elegant and with a firmer
structure of tannin and acid. A really lovely wine and reaonable value by
modern European standards – and these are all sought-after wines. The
Batuta 2004 (which got a 95 Parker rating, apparently) is more pricey at
R495, and very impressive: rather more cabernet-like, it seemed to me, in
terms of structure and even flavour – plenty of blackcurrent among the ripe,
penetrating aromas and flavours, but this not too simple or upfront. Fresh
and dry, with a good grip and very well integrated oak.
Ports
Also on offer
are some very good ports. The Vinho do Porto Dry white port is better than
the few local examples of this style, with a lovely oxidised-nutty nose;
elegant, quite spiritous and dry-finishing.
There are three
tawny ports. The Colheita 1995 (a vintage-dated tawny – most tawnies are
blended across vintages) was the least interesting and impressive (R295). A
little less expensive (R265), the Ten Year Old Tawny (referring to the
average age – at least – of the components) is probably the best buy: a
lovely balance of richness and elegance, with complex charm. The Twenty Year
Old (R465) seemed a little sweeter and richer, with great length of its
oxidative flavours. These are both very good wines indeed, much drier in
effect, and better balanced than most local tawnies (the Cape’s strength is
in its very good Vintage styles).
The only
bottled ruby-style Port we tried (apart from one negligible one that will
not be brought in) is the 2001 Late Bottled Vintage, a good example,
powerful and rich, packed with fruit; very reasonable competition for the
locals at R155.
The ports are
unquestionably worth trying; the table wines are very good examples (and
probably the only ones available in South Africa) of an increasingly
important area, that is helping to bring to the world's attention Portugal's
great potential as a producer of splendidly different wines – thanks to its
supply of excellent indigenous varieties and varied terroirs.
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Link to Niepoort's
website
Foreign
fling