12 bottles of 2018 Dao Niepoort Rótulo Tinto
Few people have recognized, embraced, and highlighted the expansive potential of Portuguese wine more so than Dirk Niepoort, whose family moved from Holland to Portugal in 1842. The Niepoort family soon established one of the great Port houses in Oporto, a tradition that Dirk continues today. He has also carved out a space for himself as one of Portugal's most innovative, creative and exciting producers of dry wine, the kind that the Portuguese people have for centuries enjoyed at their homes.
'Rotulo' Tinto is just that: a charmingly fresh tablewine whose easygoing nature belies the great quality and maturity of the vineyards it comes from. When Niepoort started working in the Dão a decade ago, he was drawn to the unique mountainous microclimate in the foothills of the Serra da Estrela range, where he found the 200-year-old Quinta da Lomba estate. 'Rotulo' is a blend of the usual suspects in Portuguese field blends (Touriga Nacional, Jaen, Tinta Pinheira, Alfrocheiro) from a mix of those exceptionally old vines and newer vines that Dirk himself planted, lightly extracted and aged in stainless steel to preserve lip-smacking freshness. Blood orange, pomegranate, and mint add a jolt of energy to the darker tones that make up the core of the wine - ripe fig, dried blueberry, and tobacco leaf - striking exactly the balance that made us fall in love with Portuguese wine in the first place.
