NV Niepoort Trudy

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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JacobH
Quinta do Vesuvio 1994
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Joined: 16:37 Sat 03 May 2008
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NV Niepoort Trudy

Post by JacobH »

**Deep breath.**

Sayeth Niepoort:

‘Nat Cool is naturally “cool and funky”. It represents an innovative concept initiated by Niepoort in 2020, in which various producers came together to create light and easy-to-drink wines.’

**Exhale**

What this means in practice is a young, basic ruby in a 1 litre clear bottle without any foil around the cork. They have pushed the fortification down as far as is possible: a declared ABV of 19.3% which I presume gets rounded up to the 19.5% on the label.

Deep in the middle, fading to a reddish-purple round the edge. The nose is good: lots of dark fruits. I get dark fresh cherries and maybe a touch of cassis. The concentration is impressive and it is not as spirity as some young rubies can be.

In the mouth, there is good complexity of fruit again. Perhaps not the bold impression of cherries one might get with a Vintage Port. Niepoort suggests plums. I tend to agree but these are barely-ripe crispy plums with good acidity rather than fully-ripe soft sweet ones. There is some acidity and a drop of tannins. The sugar is notably subdued. The mid-palate develops with a floral note, including some rose water, which I quite like. However, the aftertaste brings it back down to standard ruby territory: it finishes quite promptly with a slight grippiness which I don’t like.

I actually quite like this one. It seems like a well made and enjoyable basic ruby port. Not a category one often encounters which is really good (except for some oddities).

Portugal Vineyards offer this for £10.25 / €12.07 which seems like a bargain. English wine merchants are selling it for up to about £25 a bottle which is not. Considering the 1l bottle, I wouldn’t mind having a few of these at home for parties at up to about £15 each.
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