Niepoort Vintage 1987

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Vintage Port is bottled within two years of the harvest date and is 100% wine from that harvest. The magic of Vintage Port is different in every phase: as a young wine, it captures the youthful fruit characters, then after 20 years or more the effects of the slow bottle age integration are revealed, and finally after many decades the spirit dominates the wine. Vintage Port is amazing in all three phases. Maturation in the bottle is more reductive than cask ageing, and the wine that results has a fruitiness and power which develops in the traditional black Port bottle. The wine must be decanted. Serve at the end of a meal with cheese, especially blue cheese, which goes really well with.

Following a hot dry summer, grapes were in good condition at the time of harvest, if somewhat on the ripe side. Some dense colored wines were made in “lagares” by foot treading; only a few Vintage declarations were made in 1987, one of them being Niepoort. The wine, now nearly 20 years of age, exhibits wonderful bottle-age character, characteristic of a fine Vintage Port.

Dark and youthful in colour for its age, now showing wonderful bottle-age aroma on the nose, interspersed with a soft mint character. On the palate, the Vintage 1987 is very fine, showing good richness and a long finish.