Dirk Niepoort Interview

THE IRREVERENT BRAND OF DOURO WINES

The Nieeport brand is among the great names in the world of wine. From the fifth generation, Dirk Niepoort is one of the most prominent personalities of Portuguese wine, known mainly for revolutionizing the family business, anticipating trends, creating some of the most emblematic wines and helping to transform a region. In this interview, we discover a little more about this emblematic brand and the man who revolutionized it.

01We know that Niepoort’s history began when the family moved to Douro, but how did this passion for oenology and wine making begin?

The company was created in 1842, not by a Niepoort but by another Dutchman, who died 7 years later and from then on, in 1853 I think, it was called Niepoort. We were wine, old brandy and brandy dealers. At that time, Niepoort was more famous in Portugal for its brandy and old brandy than for Port wines. I started working with my father in 1987, “sticking my nose in the cake”, by trying to do wine experiments. As everyone knows, in Douro the priority was to make port wine. There were exceptions such as Barca-Velha, Ferreira, Quinta do Couto and some other wines, but we are talking about residual quantities since the real priority was Port wine. Our first table wine was created in 1990, and this wine, called Robustus, has never been sold. The first wine we bottled and sold was Redoma, in 1991. Nowadays the wine section has become very important and I think we have to respect port wine, which is the basis and the most appreciated wine in the world, I think. But in order to be successful, Douro needs to keep exploring port wine, table wines and tourism. And if the role of this triad is well played, Douro is a fantastic region, with great potential.

02 Was this passion inherited or was it acquired over time?

There are several aspects here. The fact that I grew up in a family dedicated to the Port wine business has some influence. But my parents never pressured me to work on wine. On the contrary. However, I was somewhat responsible for opening the bottles and decanting the wines at home, so there was already a certain involvement. But, the truth is that I went to Switzerland to study economics and it was in Switzerland that, by chance, or not, I ended up doing an internship in a wine company and it was there that the “bug” was born.

04What makes Port wine unique among all other drinks?

Well the basis of Port wine is undoubtedly a region called Douro, which is a sui generis region. I cannot say it is the most beautiful region in the world, but for me it clearly is. It is one of the hardest, roughest regions, with many extremes, vineyards ranging from 80 to 800 meters in altitude. So, Douro is undoubtedly the basis of the the Port wine quality and potential. And, historically, port wine exists because of the English, no doubt. And the English brought a certain culture, knowledge and interest to this region. At the time and by chance, the wine got there a little fortified, or it was fortified in order to not arrive there sour, and 200 years ago there was even a lot of discussion about whether port wine could be fortified or not. But I think that the English, the history and Douro have made Port wine one of the best fortified wines in the world.

05 What do you consider to be the essence of the Niepoort brand and how is this reflected in your wines?

I would say that today our motto is “less is more” above all. I mean, we do not want to make wines, we respect nature, and we respect the areas where we work. It is a bit like raising a child. This is not about imposition, but of the child being what he is and our role being only to accompany him and even to provoke some foolish things so that he can learn not to repeat them again. But above all, less is more. It’s about doing authentic things.!

06What defines a good port wine?

Above all, it is the harmony between the components. It is the harmony between the sugar, the acidity, the tannins, the alcohol and the structure and I think that what defines Niepoort wines is that although they are relatively sweet analytically, they seem much drier when we taste them. Our wines have a relatively high degree of alcohol, but it is not noticeable. They are incredibly structuring wines, with many but non aggressive tannin. Normally our wines have a relatively high acidity, but they don’t taste acid. So all these components interact and create a harmony that I think is one of the typical traits of the brand and of what we do both in table and Port wines.

07 What would be the best Port wine that Niepoort has ever made?

That question has a simple answer. Although there are several good Port wines, I have to choose Garrafeira 1931 which is undoubtedly an exceptional wine. The Vintage 1945 is considered by many as the best port wine ever made. Now, the best wine I made at Niepoort is Vintage 2017.

09If you could, what advice would you give to a person who was buying their first Port? And what kind of Port would you recommend?

I don’t know, but I think our LBV’s would be a good entry to the world of Port wine. We have two styles that mark the world of Port wine: Vintage and LBV’s, which are wines with more color, more red wine style. And, on the other hand, we have the Tawny wines, which are more open, more aromatic, more expressive, with less color, more delicate. And I think that a person who wants to know the world of Port wine, should buy an LBV and a Senior Tawny, which is a Tawny with about 8 years that gives a great perspective of what is the world of Port wine. And then, of course, there’s that question “Which one do you like best?” and I answer, “I like both and there are moments for each of them”. A dark chocolate probably goes better with an LBV. A dessert like a burnt cream goes better with a senior. It is fascinating to discover which dishes or things go better with each type of Port wine.

10 For you, what is the best kept Port wine in your cellar?

Fortunately, I have quite a few Port wines. But in my private winery I have a 1955 Taylor’s bottle. I made an exchange with some English friends and I never found the bottle again. I desperately searched for the bottle and even accused our winemaker of taking the bottle home. But in fact, he wasn’t even at that dinner, so he couldn’t have taken the bottle. Until one day, my son asked me, “What bottle is this? What is it doing here?” Then I noticed that it was the 1955 Taylor bottle, which I had put next to the bottles from 1964, which is my year. So I had searched the whole wine cellar except for that place where it wasn’t supposed to be stored. There is a lot of interesting stuff at Niepoort, but I have to mention a bottle from 1927, which is my father’s year. My grandfather, made a special bottling in 1943 and made a very tricky label, handwritten, which because it is so handmade is particularly beautiful and the wine is one of the best Port wines I have ever tasted.

11Portugal is a country rich in history, gastronomy, beautiful regions and much more. But, after all, what makes Douro so special for you?

Unfortunately, Douro was much closed. The worker suffered a lot, there were always wars between producers, workers and Port houses. This situation has changed a lot and Douro is really the most beautiful region in the world. It is a fantastic area, an exceptional region. And normally, almost always the best regions, the most beautiful and the most interesting have a river and in this case we have the fantastic Douro River.

12 What led you to start making table wine, at a time when Douro was only known for Port wine?

It is curious that, from 1986 to 1987, I was in California and before returning to Portugal, an American who was trying to make a kind of French wines, named Gary Andrews, asked me if I would make wines in the Douro. And I answered, “Of course I’m going to make Port wines”, and he says “I mean, aren’t you going to make a red wine? I thought to myself “I think so, I can’t help but do some experiments”. And he asks, “So, what style of wine are you going to make?” And I answered full of energy: “I think my first wine will be a monster, but in 25 years I will make finer, more elegant and balanced wines”. And he replied “If you want to make more elegant and balanced wines, why don’t you make them now?” I answered “Because my school is California, it’s to make brute, heavy, woody wines and I’ve never tasted a fine wine, but I heard that the French have some good things. So, maybe one day I will learn and I will know how to do it, because at this moment I have no idea how to make a fine wine”.
And so it was. I went to Douro and started making wines. There is one detail that may be important. At the time, in 1987 we bought a farm, the Naples Farm, where I am at the moment. And it was my father who wanted to buy this farm. He argued that the access was easy, it was near Régua and not too far from Porto. In my opinion, this region would not be very good for Port wine, so I was willing to go much further and buy a property that was very good for Port Wine. In fact, I was right. This region is not particularly good for Port, but it is very, very good for red wines. So I was practically forced, I’m a little stubborn and I was convinced that I was right. This region was not good for Port wine, so we quickly started making red wine. The first wine was called Robustus, from Quinta do Carrillo.

14Apart from the fact that each one of your wines has its own personality, do you think they also reveal a specific phase of your life?

It is curious, because Portuguese journalists accuse me of changing the style of our wines a lot and frankly, I don’t think there are any dramatic changes, but rather big evolutions. Although there is a clear connection to what we are doing, there is a change in a 1999 Redoma, which is different from a 2006 Redoma, which is different from what we are doing today. But in a way, I think there is a clear connection. What I find annoying is when producers make the wines for the people, for the customers. They adapt wines to journalists and I never did that. That’s why evolution is all about learning and learning is knowing, comparing, talking, drinking, sharing, visiting producers and following a path. And the path clearly has phases, which I do not know if they are a consequence of my private life or not. But I think they are more linked to a mental and taste evolution and, especially, to the knowledge of the fantastic things done by other people. We can call it copying, but also inspiration from other producers. Redoma Reserva, for example, is a wine that was clearly inspired by Burgundy and it was a desperate attempt to make a kind of Douro Burgundy wine, which in a way is absurd. If we try Redoma Reserva today, it is no longer a copy of anything. It has its own identity. Whether it’s better or worse than it used to be, I don’t know. All I know is that what we do today pleases me much more. In my opinion, the 2018 Redoma Reserva is clearly the best we have done to date. There was an evolution in wines. At first, they were heavier, fatter, less fresh, and woodier. Today they probably have younger wood, they are more concentrated, but they are finer wines, much more elegant, much more perfect and I am convinced they will age better than the first Redomas. So inspiration is very important, but the goal must be to learn above all else and the result must be to create something of our own, adapted to the region. I think that currently our Dão, Bairrada and Douro wines fully reflect the region rather than our way of doing it. Douro is a very large region, with more than 45 thousand hectares and mainly, it is a totally different region from one place to another. The bass vines are much warmer than the vines 800 meters away and if that vine is turned northwards it makes a big difference. Douro is a rare region where you can make the best white wines, the best red wines and the best Port wine. This is due to its versatility. It is not in any region that a person can do this. Bairrada is a region that allows to have the best terroir, but it is a much smaller area, where you have to plant the vines precisely in the right places, so the quantity is very limited. But Bairrada probably produces the most interesting wines in Portugal today. Dão is a region that was once famous, it was the reference of Portugal. In the past, 60% of wines sold were Dão. Then it declined, perhaps due to Salazarism, to corporatism. At the same time, Alentejo has grown a lot, modernized itself and following this, comes Douro that today is a reference in Portugal.

15 Do you still dream of carrying out any particular wine project?

There is one region, perhaps two, which are particularly interesting in my opinion, for which I have a passion for for some years now, and that is the region of Portalegre. Of course I also have a soft spot for Azores. But we’re already doing a lot, so we’re going slowly. More haste, less speed.

16Do you think there are still castes to discover or explore?

No doubt. Unfortunately, we are a country that has been left idle for economic, political and social reasons, which in many respects is extremely negative for the country. But in fact, this also has the other side of the coin, it has several advantages. Portugal is perhaps one of the countries with the most castes in the world. Certain countries will also have a wide variety of grape varieties, but Portugal has a lot of culture, a lot of empirical knowledge, which we should forcibly maintain and realize. Not everything that is old is good, but I would rather adapt to old vines than remove them and have to replant everything. In my opinion, there is still a lot to discover, as well as many castes that we say are useless, like the Moorish. However, an old Moorish vineyard makes fantastic wines. And there is incredible diversity. Nowadays in Portugal, I think we are talking about about 400 different castes, so many of them are getting lost and we should get them back, understand them and keep them in some way.

17 We know you like to think things through in the long term, so how do you see Niepoort in 20 years?

Half a dozen years ago, I wrote a text for the family explaining a little bit how I saw Niepoort. And one of the things I wrote is that 50% of Niepoort’s results would be tea. Obviously, 50% will be difficult because Niepoort has grown a lot. This is the first time anyone is making real tea in Continental Europe. Of course Azores is a separate thing. But it is a very special moment to have a 1.5 hectare plantation in Portugal and start to have some dimension. On Monday I was in Fornelo, where we have the plantation and I told Nina: “This smells so good. This smells like a real tea factory. Sounds like a real thing, it doesn’t feel like a joke anymore.” Now it’s a real thing, it’s a lot of work. But it’s going really well. And above all, the quality of the tea being made is much better than we ever imagined. So I see tea as an important component in Niepoort. I can imagine Niepoort eventually doing something in Portalegre, but mainly, I think the next steps will be to consolidate and improve everything we are doing at the moment. This means creating conditions to work better and maybe even make fewer different wines, but with more precision and even better attention to detail.