2006 Niepoort Vertente

Niepoort, the Portuguese producer of well-known Port wines, was founded in the mid-19th century when Franciscus Marius van de Niepoort of Holland moved to Portugal and became a Port negociant. Today the business is still run by the Niepoort family, which owns vineyards in the Douro Valley and has in recent decades acquired additional estates. Niepoort makes aged and non-aged Ports and is also now making well-received table wines. Robert M. Parker Jr. has written that Niepoort’s “white wines are among the best in Portugal” and that the red wine known as Batuta “is one of Portugal’s most sought-after trophies.”

Portugal is best known for its two legendary fortified wines, Port and Madeira, but it also produces significant amounts of red and white table wine. In most years it ranks around the 10th or 11th largest wine producer in the world. In 2013, for instance, Portugal was the 11th largest producer just after Germany. Wine has always been produced in Portugal and in fact the country was the first to organize an appellation system, which it did in 1756, nearly 200 years before the French set up their appellations. The highest quality wines are labeled D.O.C. for Denominaçào de Origem Controlada. Many of the most innovative winemakers today, however, are avoiding the appellation system, which they deem too stifling for modern winemaking practices. The Douro Valley is the nation’s most important wine producing region, and it is the capital of Port production. The Portuguese island of Madeira, located 400 miles west of Morocco, is the nation’s other famous wine region, having produced Madeira for export for more than 400 years. Many red and white wine grapes grow in Portugal, though the best known is Touriga Nacional, the red grape used for Port and, increasingly, high quality table wines. Touriga Nacional produces dark, tannic, fruity wines.