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Viinin Kuvailu
The Story
The second generation of the Niepoort family, in the late 19th century, had the fortunate idea of buying from a german glass factory in Oldenburg about 4000 glass balloons (in the form of old apothecaries’ bottles) of dark-green glass with varying capacities from 8 to 11 litres. Eduard Karel Jacob van der Niepoort died early and it was his son, Eduard Marius van der Niepoort, Dirk’s grandfather, who gave purpose to the demijohns by bottling the best wines of the 1931 harvest, thus creating the type “Garrafeira Niepoort”. Since the distant year of 1931 to this day the maturation in the demijohns, sealed with a cork, has been closely watched, it is almost a “sacred” ritual for both the Niepoort and the Nogueira families. Garrafeira is not just a wine; it means by itself quality far above the traditional canons. On the taste reveals a great mixture of sensations, aromas and flavours with a perfect balance between youth and experience, between the novelty of the fruit and the “good old age” that only long years of ageing can achieve.
Wine Information
With the exception of a brief period in July, the summer of 1977 was very mild. In June, blooming was marked by some blossom drop (which led to a poor cluster formation). In late August, the vines showed signs of slow development. However, in early September, heat returned and with it a rapid ripening of the grapes. Like in almost all classical years it rained slightly before the harvest, thus allowing the vines to recover the water levels and to complete a more perfect maturation process. The harvest began near the end of September.
The entire vinification was made in traditional granite lagares, with 100% stems. During fermentation, the musts showed very dark colours with hues of purple and an excellent balance and acidity. The wine then spent five years in casks in the cellars of Vila Nova de Gaia, and in 1982 it was bottled in demijons, where it remained for 28 years, under close watch, in search of the perfect occasion for decantation into bottles. This occurred in 2007 and since then the wine has rested quietly in the Niepoort cellars in Vila Nova de Gaia until September 2011, when it was considered perfect for tasting!