Niepoort 2022 Vintage Port

Description

Niepoort 2022 Vintage Port was declared in Spring 2024 on the occasion of Dirk Niepoort’s 60th Birthday. It is available in bottles, half-bottles and magnums.

According to Niepoort, “This is probably one of the best Vintage Ports of the past 10 years — its structure, acidity, sweetness and beautifully balanced tannins promise excellent ageing potential. Undoubtedly a great Vintage Port!”

Founded in 1842 Niepoort Vinhos is one of the smallest Port shippers in the trade but they are second to none in terms of quality. Already famous for their classic tawny ports (Colheitas, Garrafeiras etc.), they have now joined the ranks of the great producers of Vintage Port. The Niepoort house style is to produce well-balanced Ports, with great concentration, which are at the same time fine and delicate.

Vintage Port must be bottled within two years of harvest and be made exclusively from wine harvested in that year. The magic of Vintage Port lies in its transformation over time. As a young wine, it exhibits vibrant fruit characteristics. After 20 years or more, the effects of gradual bottle ageing become apparent, revealing a well-integrated profile. Finally, after many decades, the wine’s spiritous character begins to dominate.

Vintage Port is remarkable in all three of these developmental stages. Maturation in the bottle is more reductive than cask aging, resulting in a wine with a distinctive fruitiness and power that evolves within the traditional vessel – the classic, thick, black Niepoort Port bottle.

Grapes for Niepoort’s Vintage Ports are sourced from several old vine vineyards in the Cima Corgo with ages of 80 to over 100 years old. The grapes are harvested by hand. All of the components for the 2022 Vintage Port were foot-trodden in circular granite lagares with 100% stems. The wines were racked soon after harvest, aged in “tonéis” (large oak vats)  for two years: in the Douro over the winter, then in the cellars at Vila Nova de Gaia in the Spring of 2023. A Vintage Port with the potential to last for decades.

Niepoort 2022 Vintage Port is a blend of Touriga Franca, Tinto Cão, Tinta Francisca, Tinta Amarela, Sousão, Tinta Roriz and others.