This is our first visit to Portugal, though my love of Port (the wine), always allured me to this lovely country it is only now the opportunity of a short visit came about…

The Romans arrived here a long time before me, around the 2nd Century A.D., conquering the Celtic inhabitants and establishing cities like Conimbrigia  Setúbal, Aveiro, Obidos and Lamego to name but a few. The Romans brought wine and vines with them, and are responsible for introducing some eastern Mediterranean grape Varieties such as Muscatel Graudo, to the Iberian Peninsula. Its distinctive aroma is quite easy to recognize being one of the few grapes whose wine smells like the fresh grapes, plus scents of young raisins, lemons, tropical fruits, lime and citrus bloom. It has good, fresh acidity. Elsewhere in the world, it is known as Muscat of Alexandria, mainly used for sweet, fortified wines, most famous of which is Moscatel de Setúbal with its firm aromas of acacia blossom.

                               

It is mid April and the fields are flowering with some wild flowers (it hardly rained this year in the Cima Corgo region, but this is an arid piece of land in European standards, still the vines are used to water shortage and hardship, and the vintners, as always complain about the weather…

We are leaving ancient Conimrigia, the largest Roman settlement in Portugal. Driving due north and entered through the “gate” to the Northern wine regions of Portugal, via Lamego the small town with the monumental baroque Sanctuary of Nossa Senhora dos Remédios.

                                                 A marvelous granite staircase decorated with tiles, allegorical fountains, small chapels, and statues which lead to a baroque church up the hill. What a wonderful sight, with views all over the town.

Next stop Pinhão in the Cima Corgo, one of the three sub regions that form the Duoro wine region. Cima Corgo – Located further upstream from the Baixo Corgo in the west, centered on the town of Pinhão (municipality of Alijó). The rainfall is about 600 mm a year. We’re heading towards the centre of the meticulously terraced Duoro Valley, enjoying the magnificent view of this spectacle: The oldest legally defined (AOC), wine-producing region of the world!

                       

As a local saying goes, “God created the Earth and man created the Douro”, with its dramatic landscapes on the steep banks of the river created over centuries of human cultivation, made up of carefully terraced vineyards of the home of port wine.  the Douro Valley is breathtaking with its hills covered with terraces of vines falling down steeply all the way to the river banks. The Douro River originates in Spain and flows west in the north of Portugal until it reaches the ocean in the town of Porto.

Today we enjoy the view and some wine and Port from various producers, and a good rest in The splendid C S VINTAGE HOUSE HOTEL, on the river bank in Pinhão, tomorrow we are invited to a visit at Quinta de Nápoles Just outside the town of Pinhão. It is one of Niepoort’s acquisitions of own vineyards, with wineries adjacent to them.

                  

We cross the river to the north bank. The winery building designed by Austrian architect Andreas Burghardt, is camouflaged in the terraced hillside. Grapes travel a short ride from the vineyards to the reception area, which is the “roof” of the winery, and from there brought down the four floors of the building. Everything is there from the clusters stage start to the finished wine stage in the basement. It seems to fulfill Dirk Niepoort’s wine making philosophy. It enables a close watch on quality control of the wine, on the wine drop level, rather than the bulk Juice that starts in the “lagares”. (A lagare is the traditional container made of granite or cement where grapes are foot pressed for juice extraction).

                      

As our hosts Gabriela Santos and Carlos Raposo emphasized, that owning Quintas and vineyards in the Douro was an important step in the continuation of the port wine tradition and the first step for the creation of Niepoort table/dry wines. Niepoort is now at the top of Douro winemaking, I guess this is because he originates from the love of excellent wine in general, placing him amongst the leaders of the new generation of quality winemakers who combine the best of both the world, that of 350 years old local tradition with a desire to produce world class wines. Some of which we will taste shortly from the barrels and from the bottled past vintages.

Till today Niepoort, was in my mind, the winery that produces the best Colheita Ports and as it turned out it produces serious and sophisticated dry red and white table wines.

I will not bore you with the laborious job of barrel tasting we did in the barrel cellars, some of which were absolutely surprising to me as a novice to those Portuguese grape Varieties for whites: Rabigato, Codega do Larinho, Arinto, Gouveio and Viosinho, for reds: Tinta Amarela, Touriga Franca and Nacional, Tinta Roriz, Tinto Cão, and several others. The region’s geology of mica slate and schist’s soils of the region, the usually harsh climate and the fact that most wines are made from old age vines 60-100 years old and that all wines are blends.

Here is where the secret lies, and the Art shows. Lead by the winemaker at Quinta do Nápoles Luis Seabra. The aim is for blended wines which sum up to much more than their separate parts, and it works!

Food is prepared with love and attention by the Quinta’s cook Maria José da Fonseca Mansilha. Who cooks and serves and over sees the lunch country style fare meticulously presented as you can see. With us set to the table Paulo Dinis Barreto the owner of EnoMania wine Distributor from the Isle of Madeira and his friend .

We start with Redoma Branco 2010 here you find an intense mineral flinty character, combined with the a touch of grapefruit bitter flavor with a sweet finish and added aroma of citrus blossom. A bit of smoky oak aroma, that does not mask the aromatic elements of the wine. A good crisp start

We move on to the more complex Coche 2010 a great wine with substantial character, Coche shows intense red grapefruit aroma with a touch of fresia floral notes with multiple layers of flinty mineral touch. A very long multilayered  finish on the palate. A wonderful wine!

Than the reds come pouring in

First, the Vertente 2009. It has deep and cloudy purple color. Red and black fruit aromas, a touch of green pepper with mineral finish. Good balance, and  elegant but powerful fruit with great freshness. The tannins are firm but not obtrusive. Will keep for another 5-6 years and even improve as the tannins round up.

                                            

Than came the Charme 2009 although quite Dark in color, the first thing that comes to mind when you sniff in the earthy mushroomy aroma is Bourgogne and it may well be what was on the blenders mind as the wine evolved. Even after 14 months in the barrels not every barrel is chosen to be bottled as Charme. There is an aim here and if not reached the wine will be used in other blends. The Charme 2009 is rich and elegant, with dark cherry, plums compote aromas, deep wet earth, mushrooms and a touch of truffles aroma engulfs the palate, the wine is totally hedonistic aimed at the pursuit of pleasure in the same manner a good Époisses de Bourgogne is. The finish is long with extremely good balance; tannins are well integrated and appear soft but will keep the wine for at least another 10 years. This was my favorite wine of our lunch/tasting.

But the most characteristic of the region in my mind is the Redoma Tinto 2009 Dark in color Mainly ripe black fruit aromas, with plenty of dark plums, a strong aroma of mint and thyme and of wet forest leaves. Flint stone touch and good tannic touch turning velvety well balanced with good acidity and fruitiness. The wine is very expressive almost extrovert, and rich, with very long and persistent finish. A wine true to its origin and Paulo’s favorite of the reds.

And to sum it all up, we had 2 Wonderful Ports

The Neipoort Vintage Port 2009 (Paulo’s preference for dessert).

The color is deep ruby blood red, and the aroma is all about sensuality, with freshly ground mixed sweet spices of cinnamon stick with cloves and English pepper with green cardamom. On the palate, amazing presence of huge tannins and high concentration of ripe re and black forest berries, very powerful but elegant, which is so well balanced that it seems it may keep forever (almost). I would buy a case to keep for my grandchildren and the generation to follow.

And the Neipoort 2001 Colheita (my choice for dessert).

Colheita’s are tawny Ports matured in wood for at least 7 years but most are taken even further before bottling. In Neipoort the grapes were trodden (by feet) in cast cement lagares and later the port is matured in small old oak casks. Colheita Ports are Tawny Ports from a single vintage year.

Wonderful brick reddish brown colour. It remindes the mysterious aromas of the spices street in an oriental souk. Scents of dried fruits, black shriveled grapes with burnet tea leaves, coffee and tobacco all with flavour of dried prunes and Figs in sweet liquor it has a long finish of soft and oily honeyed alcohol. A sip of that and with your eyes closed you can almost see shehrazad dancing in the palace of the Sultan. (Imagine what you see when you drink the 1900 or the 1970 Colheita! Alas we did not have that chance on the day. Maybe on our next visit)

We had the Ports with the amazing cheeses and Marias Orange cake.

                                   

And had to excuse ourselves we still had 2 hours drive to Porto and a fair amount of alcohol in our blood. Vilanova de Gaia looked a far reach But tomorrow we have a plane to catch to London where for ages these wines headed across the ocean and the English channel to it’s destination on the London Docks.

We parted our wonderful hosts sorry we were not staying in the region for at least another day with the magic taste of the Ports still lingering on our palates.

Adeus Porto hasta pronto.

P.S.

The Neipoort Iphone Ipad App is on : http://itunes.apple.com/en/app/niepoort/id517958040#

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