For The Love Of Port

Quinta do Ameal Loureiro 2008
Fresh scent of citrus and green apples, some wet stone and a hint of flowers. Not a heavy wine, of course, but has more weight and character than those basic Vinhos Verdes with 8 or 9 %. Fresh, crisp, attractive wine with good acidity. My ideal Loureiro-based wine.

Niepoort Redoma Branco 2005
I tasted this at a tasting in 2007 and described it as folows: "Lighly buttery, fresh, almost slaty on the nose, with citrus, too. Quite Burgundian — in the mouth, too. Stylish, Great acidity." Well, it must have developed faster than I expected. It now seemed to lack acidity and appeared to be almost off-dry. There is a hint of wet stone somewhere, but otherwise it seems almost tropical, like those hot-climate whites I love to hate. Disappointing. Isn't it meant to last?

Jan-Tore Egge wrote:
Niepoort Redoma Branco 2005
I tasted this at a tasting in 2007 and described it as folows: "Lighly buttery, fresh, almost slaty on the nose, with citrus, too. Quite Burgundian — in the mouth, too. Stylish, Great acidity." Well, it must have developed faster than I expected. It now seemed to lack acidity and appeared to be almost off-dry. There is a hint of wet stone somewhere, but otherwise it seems almost tropical, like those hot-climate whites I love to hate. Disappointing. Isn't it meant to last?

Not good to hear about this bottle not holding up. I know the Reserva was build to age nicely, but I don't know about this one. I've got a few of these stashed away to see how they would hold up with age, so I guess it's time to pull one and see if mine shows the same as yours did.

Wow... not good. Really sorry to hear about that Niepoort. I certainly would have expected a bit more.
-Dave-

Jan-Tore Egge wrote: Isn't it meant to last?

Normally, yes. Haven't got the 2005 in a few years. The oldest I had was a 2000 tasted in 2007 and it was still fresh and lively.

Frederick Blais wrote:

Jan-Tore Egge wrote: Isn't it meant to last?

Normally, yes. Haven't got the 2005 in a few years. The oldest I had was a 2000 tasted in 2007 and it was still fresh and lively.

I may well be meant to, but I enjoy the regular Redoma Branco best when it's young. Maybe one or two years of age on it, but that's all. The Reserva is a different story.

Yes, I would expect the Reserva to be a different story. But I wasn't quite prepared for this.

Incidentally, I tried another bottle of the Redoma Branco a couple of weeks ago, this time served a little colder than I normally do with whites. I don't know if that made the difference, but it came across as a much more attractive wine to me, the minerality being more apparent, with a nice stone character, good acidity and only a touch of that hot climate character in the fruit that I'm not so happy about.