View from Quinta de Nápoles towards DouroAnd so to Niepoort at their Quinta de Nápoles – the last visit of our brief tour of the Douro with the Boys. Dirk was away in Germany, so we were received by winemaker Luis Seabra. Unfortunately due to our decidedly late start it was impossible to hold the impressive vertical of Redoma Tinto before lunch but instead run it during lunch. A shame for inevitably it was more difficult to judge a long flight of wines while eating. The vertical started with the 1991 and ran virtually uninterrupted through to 2007.
The Redoma vertical: 1991 to 2007
Before starting out on our red flight, we were served the 2007 Redoma Branco – as ever with the Niepoort white a fine balance of rich fruit and freshness in the finish. A young Dirk was just starting when he persuaded the company to let him make a red Douro wine. "This was clearly made to impress," said Luis. "It was aged for two years in a mix of very old vats and barrels." Given that this wine is nearly 20 years old and it was a first effort to make a red by a company used to making Port, this 1991 was showing impressively well with sweet, evolved fruit although drying a little in the finish.
1992 and 1993 were missing from the line up so next up was the 1994 showing spice and pepper and agreeably fresh in the finish. The 1995 was bottled in May 1998 and with its sweet fruit, silky power and length was the best of the early bottles. The 1996 tasted older than the 1995 lacking freshness and drying in the finish, while the 1997 was well past its best.
Luis Seabra
No 1998, so onto 1999. "This was the first year there was any investment in winery equipment for making reds," explained Luis. "This saw the start of a more modern style." The powerful 1999 has chocolate and prune flavours with quite grainy tannins – a good bottle and drinking well. The 2000 was another big wine with rich power but quite drying tannins in the finish – not as successful as the previous vintage. 2001 had power and balance with sweet, attractive black fruits, quite a grippy structure and length. 2002 was also a success – again sweet, powerful fruit also with a liquorice character.
The Redoma vertical: 1991 to 2007Before starting out on our red flight, we were served the 2007 Redoma Branco – as ever with the Niepoort white a fine balance of rich fruit and freshness in the finish. A young Dirk was just starting when he persuaded the company to let him make a red Douro wine. "This was clearly made to impress," said Luis. "It was aged for two years in a mix of very old vats and barrels." Given that this wine is nearly 20 years old and it was a first effort to make a red by a company used to making Port, this 1991 was showing impressively well with sweet, evolved fruit although drying a little in the finish.
1992 and 1993 were missing from the line up so next up was the 1994 showing spice and pepper and agreeably fresh in the finish. The 1995 was bottled in May 1998 and with its sweet fruit, silky power and length was the best of the early bottles. The 1996 tasted older than the 1995 lacking freshness and drying in the finish, while the 1997 was well past its best.
Luis SeabraNo 1998, so onto 1999. "This was the first year there was any investment in winery equipment for making reds," explained Luis. "This saw the start of a more modern style." The powerful 1999 has chocolate and prune flavours with quite grainy tannins – a good bottle and drinking well. The 2000 was another big wine with rich power but quite drying tannins in the finish – not as successful as the previous vintage. 2001 had power and balance with sweet, attractive black fruits, quite a grippy structure and length. 2002 was also a success – again sweet, powerful fruit also with a liquorice character.
As with other 2003s tasted on this trip, I found that the hot summer had produced baked flavours to this dense, powerful wine – an excess of heat. 2004 saw a return to freshness to offset the sweet, concentrated quite tannic fruit. Although the 2005 had good silky fruit with some chocolate character I wasn't sure that the bottle I tried was fully clean – a cork problem perhaps. 2006 is a big Porty style wine with liquorice tones, which works surprisingly well. 2007, the latest Redoma Tinto in bottle, really needs plenty of time – still very youthful with aromas of violets to the fore.
Lunch and the vertical
It would have been good to have been able to appreciate this very generous vertical with more time and without the pressure of being aware that there were some of the group needing to catch flights early evening from Porto. Somehow everyone in the group eventually got on the coach and we did make the airport in time, although had traffic been heavy around Porto it would have been very tight. Among those catching flights back were Andrew Barrow (the wine scribbler - spittoon) and Douglas Blyde (intoxicating prose) who had travelled down to Lisbon from the UK by train. Douglas is remarkable as he appears 'box-fresh' every morning – immaculately dressed with trouser creases so razor sharp that they could slice pata negra thinly enough to satisfy the most exacting gourmet.
The immaculate 'box-fresh' Douglas Blyde
It was only a few days later that a number of the participants developed a vicious flu-cold – a real swinish bug!
My thanks to the Douro Boys for generously making this trip possible.
Lunch and the verticalIt would have been good to have been able to appreciate this very generous vertical with more time and without the pressure of being aware that there were some of the group needing to catch flights early evening from Porto. Somehow everyone in the group eventually got on the coach and we did make the airport in time, although had traffic been heavy around Porto it would have been very tight. Among those catching flights back were Andrew Barrow (the wine scribbler - spittoon) and Douglas Blyde (intoxicating prose) who had travelled down to Lisbon from the UK by train. Douglas is remarkable as he appears 'box-fresh' every morning – immaculately dressed with trouser creases so razor sharp that they could slice pata negra thinly enough to satisfy the most exacting gourmet.
The immaculate 'box-fresh' Douglas BlydeIt was only a few days later that a number of the participants developed a vicious flu-cold – a real swinish bug!
My thanks to the Douro Boys for generously making this trip possible.
•••
Christian Seeley@lunch at Pichon Longueville
Christian Seeley@lunch at Pichon LonguevilleChristian Seeley, md of AXA Millesimés, has just launched a blog (www.christianseely.com). It aims give visitors 'a real feeling of accompanying me to the vineyards and an idea of what goes on, and what is involved in the elaboration of a Great Wine'. Quinta do Noval is one of the jewels in the AXA portfolio. Christian used to run it before being moved to Bordeaux and promoted to grand fromageof AXA's wine division. Furthermore Noval used to be owned by the Van Zeller family until AXA bought it in 1993. This meant that Cristiano van Zeller left Noval and helped to grow the nascent Douro red wine movement.
2 comments:
Extremely kind - thank you, Jim!
Douglas we were all very impressed! Also have followed coffeegate.
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