Niepoort Docil 2022
Region: Vinho Verde
Producer: Niepoort
On the nose we find elegant aromas of white flowers, citrus fruits, acids, minerals and ripe fruits.The palate is fresh and aromatic with a great balance of flavours, it finishes long and mineral.
| Volume | 75.0 cl. |
| Grape Variety | Loureiro |
| Drinking window | 2023-2027 |
| Alc. | 11.5% |
| Vinification | The grapes are harvested early. De-stemming and gentle pressing at low temperature. Alcoholic fermentation in stainless steel vats at a controlled temperature of 14°C. Very slow fermentation for 3 months. No malolactic fermentation. <br />The wine is clarified before bottling. |
| Ripening | 6 months in stainless steel vats on the lees. |
Waar serveer je ’m bij?
The same Loureiro from Ponte de Lima, but four years further on, and in a wine that deliberately kept all of its malic acid that is more interesting than it sounds. The sharpest edge has now been rounded off, the blossom has shifted towards honey and dried citrus peel, and a waxy layer has come in that makes the wine broader in the mouth. Still no oak, still eleven and a half degrees — only calmer. A four-year-old Vinho Verde is a rarity, and this one shows why that is a shame.
Pan-fried haddock fillet with a herb crust
Veal tongue salad with capers and mustard
Serveren op 10–12 °C
Drink: 2023–2029
“The unoaked white 2022 Dócil is a Loureiro from the Vinho Verde region. It's a varietal wine with the idea to produce something like a Kabinett trocken fermented with indigenous yeasts, a slow fermentation, unoaked and with a little residual sugar to compensate the acidity. This one is quite dry (the 2024 is a little sweeter). It was a very warm and dry year. The wine reached 11.5% alcohol, and it has a naked character. For Dirk Niepoort, Loureiro is the most interesting grape in Vinho Verde; if overcropped, the wine can be very thin, but if you control yields, it can be characterful, herbal, not unlike a Riesling, with more acidity than an Alvarinho, with potential to age. This wine has a darker color and a more developed nose with hints of honey and caramel, denoting a warmer year. This is balanced, comes through as dry and tasty, serious. This is a wine they started in 2006 as Girosol.”
Dirk Niepoort's impact on the Portuguese wine landscape can hardly be overestimated. When he took over the helm from his father Rolf in 1990, as the 5th generation of the originally Dutch Van der Niepoort family, it was immediately clear that something was about to happen.
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