2007 Niepoort Pisca

[Alex Bridgeman]

Deep red in colour, no purple but lots of magenta. The nose is closed but does show some lavender and raspberry. Such smooth texture, a delightful presence on the palate. Plentiful fruit, bringing fresh and slightly tart blackberry. The tannins are present but very gentle. The palate presence is good, but not better than good. The aftertaste is limited and soft, leaving a remarkably sweet and sticky finish. A well made port, but not one which holds up well to the leaders of the vintage. 86/100. Tasted 19 April 2010 after approximately 8 hours of decanting.

[Chris Doty]

Agreed. I wrote only "Nice, but no beasty. Quevedo and Vesuvio crush this little fella. Money for elsewhere"

[Axel P]

Interesting TN, as with the 2005 Niepoort I do believe that the Pisca is not consistent in tastings. I wonder why, but had it blind three times last year and voted it from 16,5 to 18. Will talk to Dirk about this.

Axel

[DRT]

I think it has probably been inconsistent because it has only just been bottled so all of the tasting notes over the past year have been from cask samples taken from the cask at different times. The bottle Alex tasted was the finished wine.

[WS1]

Derek,

I had the Pisca on various occasions as well and also to me Alex tasting note does not seem quite right. The last time I had it in Germany at Axels "Tour de Horicont " and the bt Dirk provided was according to him already a bt version of it. It was fabolous and in my eyes up to with the stars of the vintage. In agreement with Axel this need to be checked with Dirk.
I also do not feel myself in the mood opening a case and check since after having it a couple of times and seeing the progress of the Niepoort vintage port as well at the Pisca I do think both wines heavily benefit from bottle age. To be honest the first time I had it as a cask sample I did not like it at all. But over time this changed into the reverse. I am sure we will see it over time and in case it will turn out it as bad as Alex sees it Alex and you can hit out on me.

regards

WS1

[JacobH]

This was a touch lighter, in colour and on the palate, than many of the other 2007s, but had a bit more acidity which will probably compensate for the rounded tannins. I thought this was entirely consistent with being an excellent early-maturing Port (which is what I think it was designed to be) and will be interested to see how this develops.

[Michael M.]

I had a bottle (barrel sample) of 2007 Niepoort Pisca VP in early March over a period of 4 days. To my taste it was amongst the best VPs from 2007. In a long term perspective I would not be surprised if it will even surpass 2007 Niepoort Vintage Port. I found it to be very closed. Aromatically more in a way I would call red-toned. Perhaps a reason to underrate this VP. Not a blockbuster at all, but so tight weaved. Incredible masses of tannins which showed on one hand silky but on the other hand so powerful. I’d suppose that a lot of its substance is hidden behind those tannins. Last but not least a very good acidity. Let us see how it will show in 20 years.

[Alex Bridgeman]

Given the interest in this note, I should make it clear that this was a snapshot tasting note, and not one which had the benefit of extended retasting over a number of days. I'm quite happy to find out in later years (or even months) that this bottle was atypical or that my taste-buds had been exhausted by the time I got to the Pisca, but it's interesting that Chris had a similar reaction to the same bottle.

Perhaps the bottles are still settling down or this needs a lot of time in the decanter before it starts to show its full potential.