Douro Robustus Tinto

Dark fruit, prunes and spices. Full-bodied and juicy, with lovely fruit and firm yet polished tannins. Persistent, with elegant dark fruit in the finish. Big, yet approachable and refined. Made from north- facing, old-vine field blends with touriga franca, tinta roriz, tinta amarela, touriga nacional, tinto cao and others. This is aged for 48 months in used 2,000-liter foudres. Drink now or hold.

This is a very special wine. Dirk Niepoort’s first table wine in the Douro. An old field blend coming from Vinha do Carril, a north-facing site on schist soils. The nose is complex and smoky with palo santo, still alive and kicking, with dark-berry character as well as dried leaves, mushrooms and earth. Dirk explains that this wine was made in the old-school way, with plenty of extraction and long aging. It is in a great place right now. The tannins, though present, are integrated. The wine is really charming, structured and aromatically reminiscent of an aged northern Rhone. This was a game-changer for the Douro. A legend in its own way, that marked the beginning of something in the Douro. Drink now.