Niepoort - Vintage Port 2015
Price: $90.00
| Producer | Niepoort |
| Country | Portugal |
| Region | Douro |
| Varietal | Touriga Nacional, Touriga Franca, Tinto Cão, Tinta Francisca, Tinta Amarela |
| Vintage | 2015 |
| Sku | 01765 |
Niepoort Description
2015 was as perfect as it gets, particularly for Port – a year where we had time to think and make the right decisions, with the weather helping enormously.
Picked at the perfect time, 40% originating from our Pisca vineyard and 60% from different small parcels, all over 80 years old, the Ports were foot-trodden and made in lagares in Vale de Mendiz, with 100% of the stems.
This resulted in incredible Ports with an unusual dimension, impressive structure with fine and intense tannins, great concentration but always accompanied by balance and harmony.
All the elements seem to have fallen into place to ensure that this Vintage will outlive the 1955, 1970 perhaps even the 1945 Ports (but after vastly different harvest conditions)…
The sweetness is masked by the wonderfully robust tannins, the alcohol by the generous concentration, with the fantastic natural acidity of 2015 providing an overall balance.
The nose is shy but focused, no overripe prune-like characteristics, just a gentle and elegant expression of fruit and complexity – it is a joy just to smell all the hidden elements.
The balance and harmony in the bottle promise a great future: these are bottles to taste in the coming years in order to smile at its youth, to drink properly in 20 years and to enjoy fully in 40 years. A Vintage which is actually destined for the next generations so they can admire the beauty that the Douro is able to deliver.
Dirk Niepoort, 4 May 2017
THE BEST VINTAGE PORT OF THIS CENTURY
TASTING NOTES
In a great year like 2015, the big challenge was selecting the final blend from more than 60 000 litres of very good quality wines, all of them worthy of great Vintage Port status. For more than a year, Dirk Niepoort, Nicholas Delaforce and Rodrigo Nogueira examined the wines carefully and meticulously selected the best vats.
In April 2017 near perfection was achieved when a blend of 20 000 litres was finalised. We have a great Vintage on our hands, showing beautiful concentration, vigour and complexity, but with plenty of finesse and remarkable freshness. Compared to the 2011 vintage, despite the tannins also being very robust, the 2015 gives us a silky wine, with great structure and incredible balance thanks to its taut acidity and lower level of sweetness, which results in a fresher wine.
James Suckling: 95 Points
This shows the elegance of the vintage. Not many port shippers are declaring but this exhibits length and firmness with structure. Medium to full body, light sweetness and lots of blackberry, blueberry and raspberry character. Very pretty length and firmness. Should be outstanding. Try in 2025.
Wine Advocate: 94-96 Points
The 2015 Vintage Port is a field blend from old vines (80 to 100 years old). It comes in with 104 grams per liter of residual sugar. This is another gorgeous Vintage Port from Niepoort this issue, elegant, but very powerful and focused. I may have a minor preference for the Bioma this issue, but reasonable minds might differ and this is very fine. The tightly wound precision and serious backbone make this a 2015 with plenty of room to grow in the cellar, but that's not all. It has fine intensity of flavor and freshness to go with the big tannins here, making this a very serious Port on all fronts. It is impressive overall. It was a tank sample when seen, but it was the final blend and due to be bottled in two weeks when tasted. It should be in the marketplace by the time this article appears.
-Mark Squires
