Niepoort Lagar de Baixa Baga, Bairrada

Description

Niepoort Lagar de Baixa Baga is a wine that created out of the passion that Dirk Niepoort has for the Baga grape variety. The wine is result of the combination of old and young vines, producing a complex and serious red wine, but with some youth and vigour.

Niepoort Lagar de Baixa Baga is made in the Bairrada wine growing region which is located in Beira province of Portugal. Wine has been made in the Bairrada region since the 10th century and it is famous for the Baga grape variety. Dirk Niepoort occasionally makes excursions outside of his Douro home which has led to collaborations in the Dao, Jerez in Spain and now Bairrada. Dirk has been hunting down small parcels of Baga from very old vines throughout the Cantanhede sub-region. The wines produced are light in colour and alcohol (the 2013 is 11.5% abv) but will have huge ageing potential. This wine is made at Quinta de Baixo which Niepoort purchased in December 2012.

The grapes for the Niepoort Lagar de Baixa Baga come from a mixture of old and young vineyards in the Bairraida region which are planted on calcareous-clay soils. The vineyards have an average age of 20 years old. The 100% Baga grapes are hand harvested then fermented and vinified in open lagares for 4 weeks before completing the fermentation process in large, used 2500L vats. In these same vats, the wine went through malolactic fermentation and a maturation period of 18 months before it was bottled unfiltered.