The 2005 “Redoma” Branco is principally a blend of Rabigato, Codega, Donzelinho, Viosinho and Arinto sourced from old vines (40+ years) and high altitude vineyards. The wine spends 8-9 months on the lees. There are notes of vanilla from French oak and then the acidity takes over. It is fresh and exuberant, a pleasure to taste, and for some 14 Euros in Portugal, an amazing deal there. It should calm down and integrate its parts over the next year, but it will drink well young, and will make Burgundy fans happy. There were approximately 1,300 cases produced. Drink now-2012.
Dirk Niepoort is the principal of this familiar, family-owned Port house. However, dry wines are hardly a sideshow for Niepoort, and he has become one of the region’s driving forces in establishing the table wine industry. His dry wines date back to circa 1990, which seems to be a very long time ago considering how many new wines, wineries and winemakers have emerged in the Douro in the last decade or so. It occurred to me that if the Douro has a Robert Mondavi, a relative pioneer who seems as interested in pushing the brand as himself, it is probably Dirk Niepoort. One ironic thought also occurred to me. While the winery is justly considered a quality house for reds and a driving force in the dry, red revolution, it ultimately may become most famous for another reason: Niepoort is perhaps without equal for whites.
Importer: Eric Solomon, Charlotte, NC; tel. (704) 358-1565; Martine’s Wines, Inc.; tel: (800) 344-1801
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