2003 Niepoort Vintage Port

[Lamont Huxley]

I opened this about a week ago and just finished it off tonight. It was decanted off quite a lot of sludgy sediment. I tasted it when first opened, on day 2, day 3, and then had the last glass on day 7.

Dark, opaque purple with a purplish ruby rim. The nose was dark, brooding and hard to coax out of the glass on the first night. The impression was of tar, eucalyptus and spirit. An attractive, floral raspberry aspect began peeking through on the second day but it was only with the last glass on day 7 that the fruit really came to the forefront and became very pleasant to smell. On the palate this was a real bruiser - dark and tarry with the underlying fruit almost totally covered up by massive tannins and a wallop of raw spirit. As on the nose, the fruit slowly came around although even after a full week in the decanter it still very backward and out of balance with the tannins and spirit dominating the midpalate and finish. Really hard to evaluate for me at this point - I'd say put it away in a dark corner and forget about it for at least a decade. Tasted 1/12

[Bradley Bogdan]

Finally posting my notes from 2-19-12:

After 8 hours decant: Overpowering in every sense, there is tons of fruit to match the huge structure. Needs a MUCH longer decant.

After 30 hours decant: More open, bringing in some violet and mint in with the fruit, great balance but still tough to drink on day 2 due to its sheer size. If you prefer your ports young, big and fruit filled though, you'll love this now as much as I think I will in 20 years. Great stuff.