TN: 2004 Niepoort Vertente

Rich Greenberg · Post by **Rich Greenberg** » Tue Oct 30, 2007 8:00 pm

This bottle was recommended to me by the proprietor at Weimax in Burlingame, CA upon hearing that I had not tried any of Niepoort's dry wines. I cooked up a rare/medium rare ribeye steak to pair with it.

I'm not much of a poet when it comes to tasting notes, but here goes....

On the nose it displays young fruit notes well balanced with the alcohol and acid. An initial burst of fruit on the palate, followed by some medium tannins, and a solid backbone for a medium long finish. The alcohol shows up in the mid palate, and dominates a bit. It is perhaps a bit out of balance now, but as the alcohol integrates, this will provide even more drinking pleasure. The tannins are more present in and after the finish; coating my teeth a bit. In all, this is a nice, young wine that will likely age well for 5-10 years as long as the fruit will hold up.

This is definitely a good "steak" wine as it has good acid to cut through the fat and richness of the beef, and a solid fruit core. At $20-25/btl, it's a reasonable buy for drinking now, or to lay down for a few years to see how it evolves.

Cheers,
Rich

Post by **Andy Velebil** » Tue Oct 30, 2007 8:20 pm

Rich,

You're a better "poet" than you think, a very good TN and glad you liked it.

Mario Ferreira · Post by **Mario Ferreira** » Wed Oct 31, 2007 2:05 pm

Excellent Tasting-Note.
Thank You Rich.

Rich Greenberg · Post by **Rich Greenberg** » Wed Oct 31, 2007 5:06 pm

You guys are making me blush! :twisted: