Niepoort 10 Years Old Tawny

Niepoort is a Douro Port house founded in 1842 and still family run. This Tawny carries an average age of around ten years, blended from Touriga Nacional, Touriga Franca, Tinta Roriz, Tinta Amarela, Sousão and other traditional varieties planted on the Douro's schist soils. The region's steep terraces and hot, dry summers ripen the fruit to high sugar, and fermentation is stopped with grape spirit to fortify the wine to roughly 19.5 percent. The defining work happens in cask: a tawny is matured for years in 550-litre port-aging pipas, where slow, controlled oxidation and gentle evaporation soften tannin, fade the colour to amber and develop the nutty, dried-fruit character that sets the style apart from ruby Port. The wine is tawny gold in the glass, with a nose of dried apricot, candied tangerine peel and roasted nuts. The palate is structured and layered, with orange peel, lemon, caramel and honey running through a long finish. Serve lightly chilled at 12 to 14 degrees in a small glass.