2011 Niepoort Bioma Vinha Velha Vintage Port 375ml

This is Niepoort’s relatively new (this is just the 3rd vintage) Vintage Port label, a single vineyard (Vinha da Pisca) wine from old vines (80+ years). The juice used to be part of Niepoort’s regular vintage Ports. Bottled in February 2014, this was aged for 3 years in pipes and has residual sugar of 110 g/l. That said, on opening it perceptibly seems far sweeter and richer than Niepoort’s regular Vintage Port, opening like a sexy fruit bomb, rich and chocolate-y, with a sugary finish. The big power and concentration, not surprisingly, lurks underneath. It is quite hedonistic at the moment, but expect this to show very differently in a few years as the underlying structure asserts itself and it comes into balance. So, even though it is sensationally delicious just now and seems quite approachable–please, have patience. There wasn’t much made. It will be far more interesting in 2040, however theoretically approachable it now seems. For his part, Dirk Niepoort told me that he thinks this and his regular VP are qualitatively equal, just different. I mostly agree and I expect this to show much more complexity in time. It is quite clear that there is a lot going on underneath. At the moment, the regular VP was slightly ahead in that department, though. I won’t be surprised if my appreciation for them flip-flops periodically over time as this sheds its baby fat and evolves and I do need to see them with more air and cellar time one day. They are both terrific and they both have the potential to improve notably in the cellar. There were 8,051 bottles produced.