1982 Niepoort

[Roel B]

Fitered and decanted for approximately 4 hours.

When first opened, the wine was pretty closed and it just had oxidative tones on the nose - I feared for the worst. But it really opened up in the decanter!

On the eye: In the glass, the wine has browny red, slighly transparant color, with an wide discoloration towards the edges. In the decanter from a distance, the wine still shows a full, dark red.

On the nose: Expressive. Still a lot of primary fruit, ripe, dark and dried. Hints of spices, pepper and some minerality. Some oxidative tones, but in such a way that it is enjoyable.

On the palate: Great concentration. Good acidity level. Tannins are stil present but silky soft. Some spices on the tongue, very well balanced. Fresher orange zest on the mid-palate and a long finish.

Overall conclusion: A great wine, opened 30 years after the harvest, give or take a week or two. Good complexity, depth and balance. Will probably hold up for some time to come, but I don't think it will improve any further.

Score: 18/20.

[Andy Velebil]

A very nice Port from a vintage rarely talked about. And one where VP's are generally not easy to find. Here's my tasting note on a bottle of this

Decanted about 2 hours there was still a little heat showing which lessened the longer this sat in the decanter. Soft and sweet with spices this was pretty tasty and didn't last very long before the decanter was empty. We all agreed this bottle has probably peaked and on a nice plateau where it should remain for some time to come. Chris brought this over from the UK with him and even after a 11 hour flight and a short decant this was drinking nicely for a vintage rarely talked about. I've had this twice now with similar impressions.
90 Points

[Rob C.]

I really liked this one when i had it - perhaps not quite as much as you guys (maybe my bottle didn't show so well), but from my experience certainly up there in the top handful of the 82 vintage (or at least the ones i have tried - 82 was an incredibly wide declaration....).

[Andy Velebil]

( 82 was an incredibly wide declaration....).

Yes, somewhere around 30+ producers declared it. Yet one never talked about...why