1987 Niepoort

Tasting notes for individual Ports, with an index sorted by vintage and alphabetically.
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Tasting notes for individual Ports, with an index sorted by vintage and alphabetically.
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griff
Warre’s Traditional LBV
Posts: 347
Joined: 09:43 Thu 03 Jun 2010
Location: Sydney

1987 Niepoort

Post by griff »

After some recent discussion on the conversation sub-forum regarding VA in Niepoorts of this age, a bottle of this port was broached for analysis. The intention is to plan for dinner so the bottle was opened at midday.

+0h: Dense red black with a pale rim. A bouquet of cacao with rum and raisins on the palate. Surprisingly hefty, slightly chewy, with a little heat on the finish.

+1h: The palate has lightened and lengthened with kola nut emerging. Integrating on the long finish.
griff
Warre’s Traditional LBV
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Re: 1987 Niepoort

Post by griff »

+4.5h: Cherries to the fore as well as brown spices. Intriguingly the colour has lightened again. Unfortunately there is an element of VA starting to emerge on the finish. I found this best after an hour. Dinner shall be served early.
griff
Warre’s Traditional LBV
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Joined: 09:43 Thu 03 Jun 2010
Location: Sydney

Re: 1987 Niepoort

Post by griff »

+7h: I have been hasty. The last glass has emerged as a powerful liqueur cherry tipple. Some heat again on the finish and the aforementioned VA has remained in check. Perfect with some proper Wokey Hole cheddar.
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Alex Bridgeman
Graham’s 1948
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Re: 1987 Niepoort

Post by Alex Bridgeman »

Was this a bottle you managed to track down in Australia, or one you were able to take with you from the UK?
Top Ports in 2023: Taylor 1896 Colheita, b. 2021. A perfect Port.

2024: Niepoort 1900 Colheita, b.1971. A near perfect Port.
griff
Warre’s Traditional LBV
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Re: 1987 Niepoort

Post by griff »

AHB wrote:Was this a bottle you managed to track down in Australia, or one you were able to take with you from the UK?
This was an Aussie sourced bottle. Surprised to see it actually as it is mainly Taylor, Fonseca, Dow and Warre on the market here.
griff
Warre’s Traditional LBV
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Re: 1987 Niepoort

Post by griff »

Thinking about it a little more, the auction also had quite a lot of older Rioja as well as uncommonly sighted ports. Likely to be from the same cellar.
gardenhose
Cockburn’s Special Reserve
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Re: 1987 Niepoort

Post by gardenhose »

My brother has 3 magnums and 6 half bottles of this as he was born in 87 and received it as a gift. Would about now be the time to start drinking it? How long of a useful life does it have before it?
Andy Velebil
Quinta do Vesuvio 1994
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Re: 1987 Niepoort

Post by Andy Velebil »

gardenhose wrote:My brother has 3 magnums and 6 half bottles of this as he was born in 87 and received it as a gift. Would about now be the time to start drinking it? How long of a useful life does it have before it?
Your biggest enemy will be the VA. It will most likely become more noticeable with time as the primary fruit fades. Or if the bottles warm up and cause the VA to bloom.

Personally, any Niepoort VP's from 1985 through 1997 I own are slated to be opened in the near term. IMO, there is no sense in keeping them longer due to the issues at hand. Also, generally, I am not a fan of the VP's Dirk's father Rolf made. Most are now fully mature or slightly past, lots of VA issues, bottle variation issues, and overall they are relatively simple Ports. Thankfully, by the end of the 1990's Dirk started righting the ship.
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RAYC
Taylor Quinta de Vargellas 1987
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Re: 1987 Niepoort

Post by RAYC »

Andy Velebil wrote: I am not a fan of the VP's Dirk's father Rolf made.
I thought Dirk had always claimed the 1987 as his own (& first....), and one he was rather proud of.

Mayson notes that there are volatility issues with the 87, but my experience with it has been much better than 91/94/97 (haven't had the 85 enough times to get a representative picture, but by all accounts that bottling at least as bad as the 97)

I'd agree about the fact that there's no need to wait - when we had this bottle (which was very good indeed), guesses were Graham 66, Croft 77, Croft 70 and Warre 70!
Last edited by RAYC on 17:14 Fri 28 Mar 2014, edited 3 times in total.
Rob C.
Andy Velebil
Quinta do Vesuvio 1994
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Re: 1987 Niepoort

Post by Andy Velebil »

RAYC wrote:
Andy Velebil wrote: I am not a fan of the VP's Dirk's father Rolf made.
I thought Dirk had always claimed the 1987 as his own (& first....)
1987 was the year he returned from schooling/work abroad and joined the company, under his father's control. Prior to that he lived in Oporto and by his own admission had almost nothing to do with the Douro wine region itself and the company. His sole involvement when younger was decanting and serving wines at home and for guests. Leaving for schooling in Switzerland as he got older. Eventually working there, in Bordeaux, and even Napa before returning to Portugal in 1987.

So 1987 would have been his first vintage year at the company in which he worked and started learning. His father (and master blender Jose N.) were firmly in control and running things though. So while Dirk may have helped, I highly doubt he was in charge of making it.
griff
Warre’s Traditional LBV
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Re: 1987 Niepoort

Post by griff »

That is an enviable allocation of this port. It drank very well last week and other reporters have had a similar experience so I would be trying a half or two each birthday from now on. Save the magnums for 2017 and maybe 2027.
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