2004 Niepoort Colheita

Winter 2003/04 was very dry but fears about lack of sufficient water for full ripening were unfounded. The grapes (Touriga Nacional, Touriga Franca, Tinto Cão, Tinta Francisca, Tinta Amarela, Sousão, Tinta Roriz and others) come from low-yielding vineyards in the Cima Corgo region. The fruit was foot-trodden in lagares in Niepoort’s Vale de Mendiz cellar. Ageing took place in 550-litre pipa barrels at Vila Nova de Gaia. Niepoort bottle their Colheita ports after a minimum maturation period of 10 years, but the 2004 vintage was aged for even longer thanks to the excellent quality of the wine and its ageing potential. The first bottling took place in March 2018. There’s more red in the brick colour here, less orange than in the 20 Year Old. Perhaps a little more spirity initially. The first of the wines where I have felt some tannins, but they seem to get smoother as you taste. This is deeper on the palate than the 20 Year Old, so generous in fruit still. Then it tightens up on the finish to real freshness. Tasting this with Colston Bassett Stilton, the wine takes on a sweet caramel flavour – they go quite well together, but not as well as the Crusted or the Vintage. (JH)

The 2004 Colheita Tawny Port was bottled in 2018 with a long cork and approximately 90 grams of residual sugar. Showing a bit more firmness than the 2007 but not quite its seductive texture, this an easy tawny that is slightly deeper than a typical 10 but not really approaching a 20 in quality. Which you like better is mostly a matter of taste, but I liked the little bit of extra concentration here, as compared to the 2007.

Bottled 2018. Reddish tawny. Sweet red fruit still in evidence. Silky, spicy and seductive. Sweet but fresh and very youthful – still so much fruit. (JH)