Niepoort Late Bottled Vintage Port (LBV) 2019

Description

Niepoort Late Bottled Vintage Port (LBV) is a Port made from a single year. The wine is aged for between four to six years in old oak casks as opposed to Vintage Port that is aged for between 2 and 3 years.

Niepoort was founded as a Port House in 1842 and today is run by the 5th generation brother and sister Dirk and Verena Niepoort. This respected and historic Portuguese winery is known for its exceptional Port wines and table wines. The Niepoort family’s dedication to quality, innovation, and sustainable practices has helped them maintain their reputation as one of the top wine producers in Portugal and beyond. Dirk Niepoort joined his father, Rolf Niepoort, in the family business in 1987 with the challenge of innovating while upholding cherished traditions. One significant initial stride was acquiring their first vineyards: Quinta de Nápoles and Quinta do Carril in Cima Corgo, a region renowned for producing top-quality Port Wines. They planted 15 hectares of new vineyards and meticulously cared for 10 hectares of 60-year-old vines. This ownership of Quintas and vineyards in the Douro marked a pivotal moment in their journey in the world of Port wine and laid the foundation for the creation of Niepoort wines. They remain one of the smallest, yet very high quality, Port shippers.

Late Bottled Vintage Port is a style of Port which first came to prominence is the 1960s, perhaps as a way to use up excess Vintage Port that had been left in barrel for longer than usual due to a lack of demand. Today there are two distinctive LBV Ports, one style is fine (or filtered) and one style is not. If it is unfiltered it will normally say so on the bottle or may be labelled “bottle matured”. They can last as long as Vintage Ports and unfiltered styles will also develop in the bottle. Late Bottled Vintage Port fills the gap between the Ruby and Vintage Ports since a Ruby Port should be drunk quite young and a great Vintage Port may need 15 to 20 years to really open up and show its splendour.

Winemaker Dirk Niepoort calls this the “Little Brother” of his Vintage Port, as the origins of the grapes and vinification methods are identical. The grapes for this wine were hand harvested from vineyards with low-yielding old vines ( Vinha da Pisca, Vale do Pinhão and Ferrão with an average age of more than 70 years old) in the Cima Corgo region of the Douro valley. After the harvest the grapes undergo a rigorous selection on the sorting table before whole bunches of grapes are foot trodden in granite lagares. The Port is then fortified and, after a few months ageing in the Douro, the wines are trasferred to Niepoort’s lodge in Vila Nova de Gaia where the port is aged in large wooden Vats and also in barrels.

Niepoort Late Bottled Vintage Port is traditionally bottled 4 years after the harvest (to retain plenty of freshness in the wine) and it is a blend of Touriga Nacional, Touriga Franca, Tinto Cao, Tinta Francisca, Tinta Amarela, Sousao, Tinta Roriz and other Douro grape varieties.

Niepoort LBV is bottled unfiltered and may require decanting.

Also available in 37.5cl half bottles.