Crusted Bottled 2014
⏳ wine.drinking_window
Typically best enjoyed 5 to 20 years from the bottling date, though exceptional cellaring can extend its life further.
🍽️ wine.food_pairings
Blue cheese, dark chocolate desserts, roasted venison
✨ wine.spec_sheet
Niepoort's Crusted Port represents a rare, highly traditional style of Port that has largely disappeared from the modern market, kept alive by traditionalists who appreciate its vintage-like character. Unlike Vintage Port, Crusted Port is typically a blend of several high-quality years, aged in wood for approximately two years before being bottled unfiltered. It derives its name from the natural sediment, or 'crust,' that forms in the bottle as it matures. Sourced from old vines in the rugged schist soils of the Cima Corgo region in the Douro Valley, the grapes—including Touriga Nacional, Touriga Franca, and Tinta Roriz—are foot-trodden in traditional granite lagares. This hands-on, artisanal approach yields a dark, intensely concentrated, and full-bodied Port with remarkable structure, offering a window into the historic style of Port favored by 19th-century British merchants.
🍾 wine.about_producer
Founded in 1842 by Franciscus Marius van der Niepoort, Niepoort is an independent, family-owned Port and wine producer headquartered in Vila Nova de Gaia, Portugal. Under the visionary leadership of fifth-generation winemaker Dirk Niepoort, the house has seamlessly bridged its legendary Port heritage with groundbreaking dry still wines from the Douro, Bairrada, and Dão regions. Renowned for maintaining traditional methods such as foot-treading in granite lagares and aging in historic pipes, Niepoort produces highly acclaimed Colheita and Vintage Ports alongside iconic, elegant still wines like Redoma, Batuta, and Charme.