Lots to like: The New Douro’s 2009 reds & 2010 whites, plus a couple of oldies

I’ve spent this last two days in Vila Nova de Gaia closeted in Niepoort ‘s tasting room (not so very bad), tasting over 100 Douro wines and Ports.  

Now it’s true Niepoort’s range is big, but not that big (unless you take into account the Projectos ideas rolling around in Dirk Niepoort’s head!)  My purpose was to catch up with the latest releases (mostly 2009 reds and 2010 whites) from the Douro Boys and the other so-called New Douro producers. 

The wines are usually shown in London in October at the New Douro tasting (a trade tasting), which is perfect timing for updating Portuguese entries for Hugh Johnson Pocket Wine, my current project, copy deadline imminent!  But this year, it wasn’t to be.  However, the good news is that this event is due to take place in January and, let me tell you, there are plenty of good reasons to attend. 

As I discovered at a Decanter panel tasting of Douro reds last week, the 2009 reds show remarkable freshness and fruit brightness given the hot, dry vintage (total rainfall in 2009 until the end of the month of September was 30 to 40% less than the 30 year average).  Tannins are powerful too (hence a great year for Vintage Ports). 

While 2010 was also a hot, dry vintage, the whites (line up pictured) are complex and involving.  Quite different from the 2009 whites which, at this stage of their development, were all showy fruit.  The 2010 Douro whites are certainly rich, with a creamy concentration of fruit.  But sweet (bath salts) minerals and good balancing acidity lend a freshness and levity.   Very attractive, the best are well worth decanting to allow their complexity to unravel in the glass.

So in conclusion, lots to like and one cannot help but be impressed at the balance and refinement of the wines given the challenges of both vintages in this dry, hot region. It seems that the region’s table winemakers – a relatively new breed – are really getting on top of how to retain freshness and fruit purity without losing a sense of place.

I’ll write up the many highlights when time permits but, for now, here are my notes on those wines which remain particularly etched on the gustatory equivalent of my mind’s eye:

Wine & Soul Guru Douro White 2010

Straight from the bottle (via a glass, I should add!), it’s tightly furled with a smoky, oilskin quality which puts me in mind of an aged Hunter Semillon, though the palate is creamy and nutty.  Version two, decanted an hour or so beforehand, is much more translucent – the wine’s underlying freshness and minerality has teased out layers of flavour which ripple over the lithe palate, sleek yet subtle with great texture, flow and length.  Draws you in and back to the glass.  Outstanding. 12.5%

Lavradores de Feitoria X Edição Special 2006

This limited edition red (just 500 bottles) celebrates a decade of this collaboration of 15 producers.  It’s certainly special – utterly different on account of its age and variety, Baga (from Bairrada) sprang to mind.  In fact this elegant, pale garnet wine is made from 100% Tinta Cão.  Shot through with incense spice, pine needles and a curl of smoke, it’s long, lingering and lifted with super fine grained tannins.  Lovely intensity. 

Niepoort Batuta 2009

Inevitably, the flagship red is tight, brooding and ultra-youthful right now, but this imposing rock rose scented wine permits a tantalising sneak preview of what’s to come.  It’s intensely perfumed, seemingly a hallmark of the vintage, with tighly coiled, concentrated but bright and glistening small black currant and berry fruit and polished, smoky minerals well melded to a powerful chassis of tannins – the same stretch limo of tannins which make for such a long tapering finish to Niepoort 2009 Vintage Port.  Immensely precise.  For the long haul.

Quinta do Vale Meão Vintage Port 2000

Hard to believe that this is the maiden Vintage Port.  Showing delicious gamey, wood smoky development on the nose but, don’t be fooled, plenty of oomph on the palate. It shows asphalt, blackcurrant and berry with lifted esteva and an entracing whisp of wood smoke and, on day 2, hints of dried fig and chocolate orange.  Well-supported by ripe but powerful tannins it’s long, rich and involving. 

Ramos Pinto Tawny 30 Years

Sweet mirin and savoury liquorice on the nose tickle the taste buds.  In the mouth it’s long, fluid and harmonious with plenty of depth and layer to its nam pla and spice edged tamarind fruit.  A long, long nutty but fruity, fleshy finish resonates with spice – liquorice, carraway and aniseed.  Wonderful precision and layer.

Big thanks to Niepoort for hosting, not least since I discovered it was a public holiday yesterday.  Next stop, Lisbon.