Winemaker Notes
Violet glints appear in this wine’s intense ruby red hue. The nose reveals aromas of fruits of the forest, spices and figs. On the palate, you will find Niepoort's quintessential structure and elegance. It sets off on sweet notes but finishes dry, with a surprisingly assertive acidity. This Late Bottled Vintage is one of the few wines in its category that is bottled with a real cork instead of a bar top closure. At Niepoort, this means that this Port can already be enjoyed in its youth or left to mature in the bottle for many years.
The perfect partner for chocolate desserts, especially if dark chocolate is used. It will also pair beautifully with cheddar, gouda and brie cheese as well as aromatic red meat dishes, venison, lamb, veal or pepper steak.
Professional Ratings
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Robert Parker's Wine Advocate
The 2019 Late Bottled Vintage Port is unfiltered and closed with a cork, the serious style of this category, from a very good year in the style of 2005 or 2015 that can age for decades. It has 100 grams of sugar and is velvety and really a mini Vintage Port, aged for a bit longer in cask (but short for the category) and bottled in its fourth year. It's still tannic and a bit closed, with the tannin is cushioning the sweetness. It could be drunk now but should be a lot more complex with time in bottle. It has balance with a big structure, able to age for a long time.
Port is a sweet, fortified wine with numerous styles: Ruby, Tawny, Vintage, Late Bottled Vintage (LBV), White, Colheita, and a few unusual others. It is blended from from the most important red grapes of the Douro Valley, based primarily on Touriga Nacional with over 80 other varieties approved for use. Most Ports are best served slightly chilled at around 55-65°F. To learn more, see our full Port Wine Guide
The home of Port—perhaps the most internationally acclaimed beverage—the Douro region of Portugal is one of the world’s oldest delimited wine regions, established in 1756. The vineyards of the Douro, set on the slopes surrounding the Douro River (known as the Duero in Spain), are incredibly steep, necessitating the use of terracing and thus, manual vineyard management as well as harvesting. The Douro's best sites, rare outcroppings of Cambrian schist, are reserved for vineyards that yield high quality Port.
While more than 100 indigenous varieties are approved for wine production in the Douro, there are five primary grapes that make up most Port and the region's excellent, though less known, red table wines. Touriga Nacional is the finest of these, prized for its deep color, tannins and floral aromatics. Tinta Roriz (Spain's Tempranillo) adds bright acidity and red fruit flavors. Touriga Franca shows great persistence of fruit and Tinta Barroca helps round out the blend with its supple texture. Tinta Cão, a fine but low-yielding variety, is now rarely planted but still highly valued for its ability to produce excellent, complex wines.
White wines, generally crisp, mineral-driven blends of Arinto, Viosinho, Gouveio, Malvasia Fina and an assortment of other rare but local varieties, are produced in small quantities but worth noting.
With hot summers and cool, wet winters, the Duoro has a maritime climate.