We close the series on Porto and the Douro by zooming in on two iconic port and wine houses in the region. First we bring you up to date on the importance of Niepoort Vinhos today, and for dessert we travel to one of the most remarkable places in the Douro: Quinta do Vale Meão.
Niepoort in the 21st century
Today the company is run by Dirk Niepoort, the fifth generation of the family. His importance can hardly be overestimated. Until 1990 the company had only made port, but Dirk also wanted to make non-fortified wines. He wasn't the first in the Douro to do so again after 200 years of exclusive port production, but with his vision and open-mindedness he set everything in motion.
He understood straight away that good Douro wine couldn't necessarily come from the same vineyards as the best ports. Port grapes need to see sun to build concentration, whereas a white or red wine above all needs to preserve the balance between acidity and sugar. In the hot climate of the Douro, that means looking for 'solutions to the heat'. Dirk was the first to work with vineyards in higher, and therefore cooler, parts of the valley.
He also emphatically embraced the heritage of the Douro. While all over the world the diversity of varieties in the vineyards was being swapped for 'more efficient' monoculture, a great many old plantings survived in the Douro. Dirk Niepoort saw nothing but advantages.
Beyond 30 years of age, a vine gives far fewer grapes, but the quality is much better. The vines are also much more resistant to difficult weather conditions. Their roots go deep and have access to water for longer.
The old vineyards in the Douro are also mixed plantings. There isn't just one grape variety, but up to 30 different varieties growing side by side. That turns out to be an excellent basis for making balanced wines, even in times of climate change.
'field blend', 'complantation', good old farmer's sense
Mixed planting, where many different grape varieties or many different clones of the same variety are planted together, is enjoying a strong revival today. Until 100 years ago it was simply the norm. Farmers wanted a harvest every year if possible. To anticipate the whims of nature as much as possible, they opted for diversity: if you plant many different varieties together, you have the greatest certainty of a harvest. One variety copes better with heat and drought, another with wet. Some varieties are susceptible to one disease but less so to another. By planting everything together, a harvest was assured whatever the weather. That wasn't science but good old farmer's sense.
In the second half of the 20th century, this approach was abandoned almost everywhere as impractical. The different ripening curves of all those varieties alone make mixed plantings very labour-intensive.
The technological developments of the 20th century also led winemakers to believe that monoculture combined with fertilisers and pesticides was the perfect solution. Mixed plantings were rationalised away.
Today we see the reverse. Climate change is having an enormous impact on winemaking. Suddenly, grapes that used to struggle to ripen need watching for over-ripeness. And mixed planting turns out to be a good idea again. If the Chardonnay gets too ripe, Aligoté can step in with its acidity, to give just one example.
All over the world we therefore see winemakers going back to the old ways.
And speaking of heritage: in a shrinking port market, Niepoort is careful above all not to throw the baby out with the bathwater. He continues to embrace the tradition of port. Whereas until the 1990s almost all the vineyards in the Douro were destined for port, half are now used for non-fortified wine. Many port houses no longer see port as a priority.
At Niepoort it's quite the opposite. However important and extensive the wine range has become, port continues to receive just as much attention. There is, however, a constant search for ways to keep port's sweetness from dominating. Niepoort's port aims to be drier and fresher, and that certainly appeals to a new audience.
Quinta do Vale Meão
At the end of the 19th century, Quinta do Vale Meão was the crowning achievement of Dona Antónia Adelaide Ferreira's work. Her descendants still do her legacy full justice today.
In the mid-19th century, Dona Antónia took charge of her family's ailing port house. She would transform it into one of the most powerful producers and become by far the largest landowner in the region. The list of estates she acquired for the Ferreira family during her career is downright astonishing. Vargellas, Vallado, Vesuvio: these are just a few of the more than 20 quintas they bought, which would gain worldwide fame among port lovers in the 20th century.
At the same time, she established herself as the great patron of the region, among other things by building schools, parks and other facilities for the local population.
So in 1877 Dona Antónia also bought 300 ha of land from the municipality of Vila Nova de Foz Côa in the Douro Superior. Her ambition was to build a model vineyard there from scratch. The project was only completed one year before her death in 1896, but that is how Quinta do Vale Meão was born, and it has remained in the hands of Dona Antónia's descendants to this day.
From Barca Velha to Vale Meão, more than 65 years of excellence
In the late 1940s, Fernando Nicolau de Almeida, then winemaker at the port house Ferreira, managed to convince his employer to make a wine in the Douro inspired by the great Châteaux he had visited in Bordeaux. It helped that he was married to one of the daughters of the Ferreira family, and so Nicolau de Almeida was able to pursue his dream of creating the great Portuguese icon wine.
Thus in 1952 a wine was born at Quinta do Vale Meão, named after the old ferry that operated near the estate: Barca Velha, or old ferry.
Barca Velha did indeed become the icon wine Fernando had in mind, but it never gained worldwide fame like, say, Vega Sicilia in Spain, because production remained very limited and was sold almost exclusively on the domestic market.
When Francisco Javier de Olazabal, a fourth-generation descendant of Dona Antónia, became director at Ferreira in the 1970s, he gradually began buying up all the shares in Vale Meão within the family. From 1994 he became the sole owner, so this special estate stayed in the family when Ferreira was sold to the large Sogrape group at the end of the 1990s. As a result, Sogrape had to look for a new vineyard for its Barca Velha. Today it relies on grapes from Quinta da Leda, a few kilometres further along the Douro.
Until 1998 the Olazabal family continued to supply grapes for Barca Velha, but from 2000 the entire harvest stayed on the estate for the production of the first Quinta do Vale Meão under its own label. The ambition could only be very high. After all, Barca Velha had set the tone. A new wine from the same famous vineyards could not fall short.
From then on, Francisco 'Xito' Olazabal gradually took over his father's role. In the years that followed he refined his wine enormously, until today it is internationally recognised as one of Portugal's greatest red wines. Quinta do Vale Meão is a blend of mainly Touriga Nacional, supplemented with Touriga Franca, Tinta Barroca and Tinta Roriz. The wine is aged in French oak barrels, 80% of which are renewed every year. It is a powerful wine, but one that always keeps its balance.
Alongside the top cuvée, a more accessible version, Meandro, is also produced; because of its lower concentration it is aged in older barrels. Although this wine is meant to be drunk younger, it also ages beautifully in bottle.
Rather taste than read? Browse all our ports, the wines of Niepoort and those of Quinta do Vale Meão, or read more about the Douro.