TN: 2001 Niepoort Vertente Douro

[Andy Velebil]

The last bottle I bought on release and held as an experiment to see how well an inexpensive Douro red could age. So, on it's 10 year anniversary it was opened last night. It took about 30-40 minutes to fully expand and hit it's stride, still red fruit dominate with some leather and tar, a lot of minerality on the mid palate and finish, still retains solid acidity and a slightly short finish. I'm impressed with how well this has held up and wish I had more.
89 Points

[Bob Parsons Alberta]

I wonder if you could describe the label? Is it one of those story-telling ones like we are seeing these days?

[Andy Velebil]

I wonder if you could describe the label? Is it one of those story-telling ones like we are seeing these days?

It's white with black dots in a checkerboard pattern that make it appear to be a sheet of postage stamps. The lettering is all black. Basically similar to the story telling ones, but without the characters in it.

The back label is a big ugly black background with white lettering from their USA importer that takes up almost the entire backside of the bottle. Under that is the Casa do Douro Douro DOC seal. The top portion of which is under the main back label, covering the "DOURO DOC" and "CASA DO DOURO" part. The seal has what appears to be a mosaic of stained-glass with religious figures and possibly farmers on it.

[Ronald Wortel]

Bob, Andy's description of "inexpensive Douro" is slightly misleading as this was never a really cheap wine. I don't know about American prices, but this was around 20 euro on release (whereas Redoma was 30 euro back then). The wine you're referring to is Dialogo/Fabelhaft/Twisted etc., which is the entry level wine of Niepoort (around 10 euro per bottle). Back when the 2001 Vertente was released this wine did not yet exist, so then Vertente was Niepoort's cheapest wine. I hope this clarifies things a bit.

[Bob Parsons Alberta]

Thanks one and all. Dialogo...thats the one!

[Roy Hersh]

I purchased six bottles of the 2001 Vertente and try as I did, I could not keep my hands off of 'em. It was just too good and offered exceptional value. I really regretted not having more. A very fun wine in its youth and it drank well right through my last bottle.