For The Love Of Port

This year again I couldn’t resists to visit this wonderful country that is Portugal. This time, I mainly focused around the Douro region where I stayed 12 days. It is with great joy that the Niepoort family received me at the Quinta do Napoles during the harvest to share with me the work and the events surrounding this exciting time of the year. It is with the same passion that I’ll try to share with you trough my text and pictures the amazing time I had there.

I really hope you’ll enjoy reading this, comments are always welcome!

Link for the article: http://www.frederickblais.com/niepoort2007/index.html
Link for the pictures of my trip: http://www.frederickblais.com/pics/index.php?cat=9

Fred,

Cool pics. Havn't read the article yet, but will do so tomorrow. THanks for sharing them.

Nice, really nice Fred


Abraço,

João Rico

So far I am only about half way through, but have to compliment you on your eye and camera skills Fred. The writing is great as well, considering English is not your 1st language... unbelievable scenery!!!

Thank you for the kind words Todd. I have to admit that Derek did help me with syntax and word choosing.

Thanks Fred,

Very interesting read... Looks like you had a great time.

On another note, I am glad to see that I'm not the only one who is having hard time getting good clear pictures of the Douro :) There were so many "wow" moments driving around Pinhao, but very few good pictures that could capture them. Had better luck in Porto...

Steve

To get good pictures in the Douro you need to shoot early or late. Once the sun gets too high, you get a lot of haze-foggy-dust in the picture. It is probably due in part with wather evaporation and the dust from the sandy/argile top soil.

Frederick Blais wrote:Thank you for the kind words Todd. I have to admit that Derek did help me with syntax and word choosing.

It didn't sound Gruff and Scottish to me!

Alan C. wrote:

Frederick Blais wrote:Thank you for the kind words Todd. I have to admit that Derek did help me with syntax and word choosing.

It didn't sound Gruff and Scottish to me!

Obviously Fred only took SOME of the advice!

Todd

The vintage is strong and although there may be some that doubt the quality of 2007, based on their "readings" I know that Andy and I are both in agreement that 2007 has great potential. There are others from the trip that would agree from what they saw, tasted and heard from a very wide range of small and large producers.

This went far beyond typical excitement and harvest hype!

Roy Hersh wrote:The vintage is strong and although there may be some that doubt the quality of 2007, based on their "readings" I know that Andy and I are both in agreement that 2007 has great potential. There are others from the trip that would agree from what they saw, tasted and heard from a very wide range of small and large producers.

This went far beyond typical excitement and harvest hype!

Roy, I think that 2007 has great potential too but it will not be, in my opinion, a balance quality across the Douro. I've seen many vineyards suffering from the lack of heat and stress. Some where just over producing with berries filled with water that where giving dilluted taste. Of course none of this at Niepoort, but from vineyards with great geographical position in the Douro that should normally be doing better.

So yes, I was impressed but I have serious reserve for general quality across the Douro. Again it is my point of view

After thinking back on this, I think I was looking at a half empty glass. If I look at the half full glass, I'd say that there is enough quantity and quality to make a great year.

It is easy to forget that grapes are not all going into VP So yes I'd definitively say that 2007 could see a declaration. My only doubt in mind is the quantity. By that, I wounder if a company that does normally declare around 10 000 cases would declare if he can only manage to produce lets say 6000 cases. I have no idea at this moment if it is the case or not, but I could see this as an obstable.

Fred,

You raise some excellent points and I am fascinated (based on earlier comments here and elsewhere) that you have pulled an about face on 2007. I say this with full respect of your opinions past and present.

Your time spent in the Douro was during the early part of the harvest this year and a lot happens right at the end of the growing season and even the end of the picking season as you know. 12 full days gave you a very accurate picture, for that period in time. Also, spending a majority of time at Napoles (which sounds like it was a great experience and one I envy) at a property that concentrates its grape focus on Douro wines is different than what takes place at properties where their full attention is Port.

I realize you got to see other vineyards and properties while there as well and am sure you went to Dirk's other production facility in Mendiz where his Port is vinified. I also know you keep in touch with Dirk and others and get more information, which is always important to get a bigger picture. So again, I think your assessements have great value.

Others have been saying positive and negative things about 2007 based on little more actual knowledge than what they see in online weather predictions. These are at best, faulty (accurate about 1/3 of the time) and at worst, are extremely unreliable for a diverse region like the Douro with 3 sub-regions and thousands of micro-climates.

Casting no aspersions, people read things differently and your innate sense of what goes on in the Douro is very very sound and one that I respect, as it IS based on personal experience, making the effort to actually be there physically and through direct contacts with key players.

Others who "forecast" what is or is not going to happen with the 2007 vintage ... who never speak or email directly to anyone in the trade, never walked in the vineyards or tasted the grapes or tread in the lagares this year, are not individuals that I consider to have a reliable opinion, when they are formed by circumstantial evidence and heresay alone.

This is the same thing that I find offensive (if not just plain WRONG) when people make definitive opinions about wines they have never personally tasted. :twisted: I'll take the shortcomings of empirically formulated opinions on wine, rather than those based on google research -- any day of the week.

Now I will step down off my silly

I think you do raise some excellent point there Roy. Especially with the weather. If you watch meteo on the net, first there is no meteo for the Douro and I could only withness that the weather was so much different between Vila Real and Pinhao which are just 50-75km away.

I knew the weather was changing so fast in the Douro but could only withness it this year. I could not believe that on a bright sunshine day at Napoles some thunderstorm happened a few kms away...

But anyway, it is always fun to take a bit of everyone "WISDOM" on Port, analyse this and get out with a better answer than what we would have achieve alone