Niepoort bears the name of a family for whom working the vine is synonymous with passion and tradition. Since 1842, the five generations that have succeeded one another on this privileged land in the heart of the Douro have aspired to express the beauty of their terroir and the extent of their unique know-how through Niepoort wines. Working hand in hand with his elders, winemaker Dirk van der Niepoort has succeeded in marrying tradition and originality to perfection. It is this singular spirit that permeates every colour of the house's wines, and which today carries the reputation of the famous Portuguese estate to the highest levels of winemaking.
The history of Niepoort is closely linked to that of the Douro region, which has been a UNESCO World Heritage Site since 2001. Here, a terroir with a long winemaking tradition has been producing great wines for almost 2,000 years. Although the north of Portugal is characterised by its granite soil, which is not very suitable for growing vines, the land around the Douro river is made up of 250,000 hectares of schist. In addition to this rich soil, in which the Niepoort vines take root at a height of around forty metres, the region benefits from a continental microclimate sheltered from marine influences by the surrounding mountains.
The combination of this great terroir and the ancestral know-how of the Niepoort family produces exceptional wines. In the heart of the winery, the Niepoort philosophy accompanies every stage of the winemaking process. The breadth of Niepoort's talent extends to red, white and rosé wines, offering a wide range of colours and styles. The estate may be one of the smallest in size to produce the famous Port wines, but it is nonetheless one of the best. In fact, the prestigious Wine Spectator magazine compares Niepoort's role in Port to that of Krug in Champagne, in that this small estate produces wines of the finest quality.
