Welcome to our blog, Portuguese Wine Club! Living in Lisbon allows us to enjoy Portugal’s wines straight from the source. Portugal is an up and coming wine region and we are doing our best to promote it.
This week we are reviewing a white wine from Niepoort winery from the Douro region in Northern Portugal. First we will start off with some background on Niepoort wines. An independent, family run wine business since 1842, Niepoort has two growing facilities, Quinta da Nápoles and Vale de Mendiz located in the Douro growing region. This region is known throughout Portugal as being one of the best wine producing regions in the country.
Tasting notes: Dry, smoky, mineral, acidic, with a long salty aftertaste. It reminds me of the sea water off the coast of Portugal.
Food Accompaniment: Would go well with strong flavored seafood, particularly shellfish, lobster, crab, oysters, and scallops.
Price: ~ € 6.50
Verdict: 8/12
This wine gets eight out of a possible twelve points because of the saltiness bordering on bitterness that accompanies the finish. It really is a fairly good white to be enjoyed over a dinner of seafood to achieve some balance on the palate. By itself it can be a bit tough to swallow. At this price point of around € 6.50 other more palatable whites can be found easily. If you like the dry, salty wines, then this is definitely for you! If you like the fruitier more floral wines then stay away!
