The
Douro wine revolution
Part 3: In Porto
On arriving in Porto, I headed out to the suburb of Freixo,
to Dirk Niepoort’s parents’ apartment (his own house is currently
being renovated – a rather grand and long-term project by the sound
of things). It’s a pleasant part of town, and the spacious
third-floor apartment had views of the Douro. Dirk had gathered an
interesting crowd of wine people: the guest list included Jorge
Moriera (winemaker at Real Compania Velha), Tomás Roquette (Quinta do
Crasto), Ray Isle (US wine journalist) and Fernando Melo (Portuguese
wine journalist).
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The view over the Douro from
Porto old town |
As well as a multicourse menu prepared expertly by
Dirk, we tasted 11 wines, all served blind. Most of these came from
Dirk’s own cellar, although others of us also made the odd
contribution. It was an interesting, enjoyable evening, and Ray and I
didn’t get back to the hotel we were staying at until the early
hours.
Dirk in full flow |
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Wine 1 Deep gold colour.
This has an amazing, very unusual complex nose of sweet lime cordial,
with some floral elements. The palate is very soft and lush with rich
texture and quite low acidity. Initially comes across as quite sweet.
A really interesting wine, I’m completely unsure as to its identity:
my guess is an old Mosel Riesling Auslese. Very good/excellent. It’s
actually Paul Blanck Gewürztraminer Furstentum 1983 Reserve
Exceptionelle, Alsace
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Wine 2 Deep yellow/gold
colour. Quite a rich oatmealy, butterscotch-edged nose with a spicy
character. Very rich palate with a nutty, full texture. Quite mature,
this is quite a complex white Burgundy, but that’s as close as I can
get. Very good+ It’s Comtes Lafon Mersault Genevrières 1er Cru
1990, Burgundy
Wine 3 Yellow/gold colour.
Rich, toasty nose with some oak evident. Quite a tight minerally
palate with good acid and a toasty, lemony edge. Nice minerality here
and good concentration, but not quite all together. Very good+ It’s Olivier
Leflaive Puligny-Montrachet 1er Cru Les Pucelles 1993, Burgundy
Wine 4
This is a lovely
old Pinot Noir. Quite tight, spicy leathery/earthy nose. The palate
has lovely balance, good acidity and sweet herby characters along with
firm, dry tannins. Quite evolved. Very good/excellent. It’s Leroy
Savigny Les Beaune ‘Les Serpentières’ 1979, Burgundy
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Inside the Niepoort Lodge |
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Wine 5 Deep coloured.
Intriguing spicy, earthy, slightly meaty nose with rich, sweet
medicinal elements. The palate is quite wild, initially showing quite
a severe medicinal nature with lots of tannic structure. In the glass
it opens out to show rich spicy, balsamic complexity. Quite brilliant,
in a robust sort of way. Excellent. It’s Scarpa Barbaresco ‘I
tetti di Nieve’ 1978, Piedmont, Italy
Wine 6 [A slightly more
humble offering, this is one of the wines I brought along, so for me
it wasn’t blind. The same applies to wine number 7] Deep coloured.
Really rich forward nose of green olives and meaty berry fruits.
Palate is rich, full and very savoury. Firm tannins.
Very good/excellent. It’s Alain Graillot Crozes Hermitage
1998, Northern Rhône, France
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Wine 7 Lovely focused
nose of spice, herbs and just a touch of animal-like character. Warm
and spicy. The concentrated palate is leathery and spicy with plenty
of firm tannin. Youthful. Lovely stuff with a bright future ahead of
it. Archetypal Bandol. Excellent. It’s Domaine Gros’ Noré
Bandol 1998, Provence, France
Wine 8 Deep coloured.
Really attractive nose of rich, herby cherry fruit with a liquoricey
edge. The palate is rich and quite modern with a bit of spicy wood and
nice acidity. An interesting, forward interpretation of Pinot Noir.
Very good+ It’s Chelalem Pinot Noir ‘Rion’ Reserve 1999,
Oregon, USA
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Wine 9 Quite mature, with
a leathery, herby nose. Beginning to dry out a bit on the palate.
Mature, leathery, savoury and tight: showing some age. It’s Quinta
do Mouro 1996, Alentejo
Wine
10 Not served blind, this is Jorge Moreira’s own wine, Poeira.
It’s the inaugural vintage, 2001, and it comes from a 4 ha vineyard
at his property Terrafeita de Cima in the Douro. It’s a cask sample;
altogether some 10 000 bottles will be produced. Deep coloured, this
is a lovely rich, spicy wine with good concentration. It shows a good
deal of elegance with its herby complexity and firm, spicy tannins.
Impressive stuff.
Wine 11 By this time my
note-taking capacity was falling off. We finished with 1990 Quinta do
Vesuvio port. All I noted was that this was quite well structured
still. What do you expect?
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The following morning Ray and I met Dirk for breakfast and
then, after watching Brazil play Turkey in the world cup, we headed
over to the Niepoort lodge at Vila Nova de Gaia. It’s a remarkable
place, reeking of history and full of atmosphere. Lots of old barrels
and cobwebs, but fascinating. We didn’t taste much here, and after a
quick nose around there was time to grab a quick lunch (barnacles and
shrimps in a seafood bar) before Dirk put me on the train for the
Douro.
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