Change of Heart?

[Moses Botbol]

Have you had certain vintages which you dismissed as lackluster or not your taste to come back to that same vintage and now herald it?

I can think of two that recently fit the bill for me. The first was 1985 Niepoort. I had my first bottle about 10 years ago (from a case I bought) and it was so distant from the '85 Fonseca I had along with it, that I never wanted open another one. A couple of weeks ago a friend came over (who also had the first one with me) and busted his chops saying we should open another Niepoort as just a casual wine since it would be pop and pour. The 2nd bottle was all that! For sure on the top quarter for the vintage.

1994 Presidential (Dalva). The first two bottles I tried a 2-3 years ago I felt like this port was near a joke. Last summer, I opened another one for another casual port and maybe a little to cook with. Boy did that port transform itself.

Could it have been duff initial bottles or the that either vintage wasn't ready? Could be the bottle traveling or the mood? Feel rest assured that either vintage is solid.

[Tom Archer]

You sometimes get lucky with Niepoort '85, but only sometimes..

The issue of bottle variation is something that annoys me. I think I know the reason for it, and how to resolve it, but the producers seem shy about dealing with it.

Empty bottles arrive from the glass manufacturers on pallets, the tops are not sealed, bugs in the air can fall into them. Sometimes half empty pallets are left gathering dust for weeks, the tops of the bottles left open.

On modern bottling lines, compressed air is blasted into bottles to clear any dust, but on some simpler lines, that doesn't happen. Even when it does though, I'm not convinced it's sufficient. I'm also concerned about the quality of compressed air - having once worked in a factory that had a piped compressed air circuit, the oily smell of that air was quite distinctive.

The solution, to my my mind, is that every bottling line should first blast a small amount of high pressure distilled water into bottles, and then flush that out, along with any dust, with a secondary blast of filtered compressed air, immediately before going into the filler.

Clean bottles should not be too much to ask!

[Mike J. W.]

I'm not there yet, but there are a few bottles that I'm wondering if they'll be better the second time around. I had a '97 Niepoort VP and it tasted like vegetables. I'm chalking that up to the cork problems they've had. I have 2 more bottles in my basement of that vintage and I'm curious to try another one.

The same thing goes for an '85 Graham's VP that I had a few weeks back. It was just ehhh and I expected a lot more. I have a few more bottles so I'll probably try that again in another year or so to see if it was just a bad bottle. I like Graham's a lot so that one was a bit of a surprise.

[Andy Velebil]

I'm not there yet, but there are a few bottles that I'm wondering if they'll be better the second time around. I had a '97 Niepoort VP and it tasted like vegetables. I'm chalking that up to the cork problems they've had. I have 2 more bottles in my basement of that vintage and I'm curious to try another one.

The same thing goes for an '85 Graham's VP that I had a few weeks back. It was just ehhh and I expected a lot more. I have a few more bottles so I'll probably try that again in another year or so to see if it was just a bad bottle. I like Graham's a lot so that one was a bit of a surprise.

Mike,
Don't hold out hope for 1997 Niepoort. It is basically riddled with VA issues. On a rare occasion you may get one that doesn't show as much VA. Nothing to do with corks, this is caused by a bacterial infection in the winery.

85 Graham's, I've had a little bit of bottle variation with. As I have had with many Ports from that era. Most show pretty good but some can be more dull. Give it another shot and hopefully the next one shows better.

[Shawn Denkler]

All bottling lines I've ever seen in California use nitrogen or rarely carbon dioxide to blast out any possible debris in the bottles while they are upside down. Compressed air is never used because it is contaminated with oil and air has oxygen which will oxidize the wine as soon as it goes into the bottle. The nitrogen is used to blast out debris and also sparge the bottles of oxygen.

The Niepoort 1985 has a big VA problem just like the 1997. I've had many bottles and never had a good one, actually I found the VA was so high I could not drink them. My cases came directly from the importer. Apparently part of the vintage bottling is better or some people are not sensitive to VA.

[Moses Botbol]

The Niepoort 1985 has a big VA problem just like the 1997. I've had many bottles and never had a good one, actually I found the VA was so high I could not drink them. My cases came directly from the importer. Apparently part of the vintage bottling is better or some people are not sensitive to VA.

Be interesting to see the 3rd and 4th bottles will fare. Having a '94 Niepoort tomorrow and then again on Thanksgiving (two different sources). Even with the gold medal on the bottle doesn't ensure much with the '85 Niepoort.

[Tom Archer]

Having a '94 Niepoort tomorrow and then again on Thanksgiving

Much as I hate to say this, it would be prudent to have back up bottles on hand. Tasting notes on this wine are worrisome..

[Andy Velebil]

The Niepoort 1985 has a big VA problem just like the 1997. I've had many bottles and never had a good one, actually I found the VA was so high I could not drink them. My cases came directly from the importer. Apparently part of the vintage bottling is better or some people are not sensitive to VA.

Be interesting to see the 3rd and 4th bottles will fare. Having a '94 Niepoort tomorrow and then again on Thanksgiving (two different sources). Even with the gold medal on the bottle doesn't ensure much with the '85 Niepoort.

The brass tags. Interesting story, and Fred can correct me if I am off. Rolf, Dirk's father, had a friend who's company stamped out brass. Those circles were the left over from the stamping process. Rolf got them for free, had them stamped with the vintage and attached. My understanding was, they stopped using them as the friends company stopped stamping out the brass and Rolf no longer could get them. Paying to keep having them made was prohibitive. That was the story Dirk told me many years ago, as I recall it...

[Jasper May]

Having a '94 Niepoort tomorrow and then again on Thanksgiving

Much as I hate to say this, it would be prudent to have back up bottles on hand. Tasting notes on this wine are worrisome..

I have in the recent past opened three bottles of this, and sadly all three had quite a lot of VA. (But they were all from the same source).

[Moses Botbol]

I have in the recent past opened three bottles of this, and sadly all three had quite a lot of VA. (But they were all from the same source).

Well, the restaurant has a '60 Ferreira that was well priced, mabye go for that instead...

[Al B.]

To come back to Moses original question, yes.

Some years ago we were really down on the 1960 and 1975 vintages. Today the 1960 vintage is beautiful drinking and the 1975 is a very decent and elegant quaff.

[Moses Botbol]

'77 Grahams was derided for some time and is now quite delicious. Those who bought it for cheap over the years can now cheer.

[Roy Hersh]

Agree, Moses. The 1977 Graham's was a funky youngster throughout the 1980's and most of the 1990's. In the late 1990's the overwhelming aguardente that had made this a very disjointed VP for years, seemed to begin to integrate. The last few bottles that I took part in were much better in the past few years and my scores have gone up and have been consistently in the 93 point range. I would have bet the ranch that this Port when young, never could have turned around as well as it did.

As for the 1994 Niepoort, in 2012 when Dirk came to Sammamish for 3 days of intense tastings, I opened a magnum of the 1994. Most in the room really liked it a lot, in comments made going around the room. But when it came to Dirk, he said he hated it and that it was riddled with VA. Andy agreed with him and also felt the VA was out of control. Lots of us did not catch that at all, but just goes to show. Dirk gave the impression that the 1994 bottlings of his were like that. I only thought that applied to 1997 at that point.

[Andy Velebil]

As for the 1994 Niepoort, in 2012 when Dirk came to Sammamish for 3 days of intense tastings, I opened a magnum of the 1994. Most in the room really liked it a lot, in comments made going around the room. But when it came to Dirk, he said he hated it and that it was riddled with VA. Andy agreed with him and also felt the VA was out of control. Lots of us did not catch that at all, but just goes to show. Dirk gave the impression that the 1994 bottlings of his were like that. I only thought that applied to 1997 at that point.

Niepoort has serious VA issues in their VPs from 1985 through 1997. I've not experienced or heard any issues from the 2000 or subsequent vintages (keeping fingers crossed).

[Roy Hersh]

In September, in Porto, I opened a bottle of 1992 Niepoort VP and it was a magnum bottle. Not a speck of VA in that puppy. Clean as a whistle. Too many glasses to fill around the table was the ONLY issue with it.

[Andy Velebil]

In September, in Porto, I opened a bottle of 1992 Niepoort VP and it was a magnum bottle. Not a speck of VA in that puppy. Clean as a whistle. Too many glasses to fill around the table was the ONLY issue with it.

Consider yourself lucky.

FWIW, Dirk told us at that offline that from 1985 thru the late 90's his VP's were marred by VA. One thing I'll give Dirk, he's not afraid to be honest about his own wines.

[Roy Hersh]

I've never had a VA flawed 1985. Most have been decent, but not anything special. However this was the last classic vintage his father produced. That said, while not a top 1985, it is more mature than many of the big names. But again, I've not found the VA in that particular vintage. Even the 1997 VP's, I have been fortunate to have had mostly clean bottles and I realize that many times they can be problematic, especially this vintage ... but so far, all but one from my own cellar have been free of the VA. Unfortunately, I have had several over the years that were brought to offlines or even a fairly recent example in Porto, which had a solid dose of it.