1994 Niepoort Vintage Port

[JanTore]

I tasted this at a couple of tastings when it was young, at a time when I was quite new to port. It kind of blew me away, and I refrained from buying the 1992, which I also liked, intending to spend my money on the 1994 instead. I was disappointed when it was never really available on the Norwegian market. (The few bottles allocated seemed to have been snapped up before they even reached the retail shops.) Anyway: I got hold of a single bottle in Aalborg, Denmark in 2008, and we opened this last night.

When decanted, the wine has an overwhelming chemical smell, like acetone, overpowering the fruit. Although the fruit fights back after a while, the nail varnish remover never receeds entirely. The fruit is a cross between stewed and dried (prunes, etc.), not very precise, verging more towards red than dark fruits. There is some tannin sticking out. The wine never comes quite together. This doesn't feel right, of course, and from googling and searching here I understand there is a problem with this vintage and the 1997, of which I've got a couple of bottles. A thoroughly depressing experience. I need to open something more uplifting, preferably within a few days.

[Glenn E.]

When decanted, the wine has an overwhelming chemical smell, like acetone, overpowering the fruit. Although the fruit fights back after a while, the nail varnish remover never receeds entirely.

Sadly, this is very common for anything bottled by Niepoort in the mid 1990s. They had a nasty VA (volatile acidity) problem back then, and it didn't really get fully resolved until the 2000 vintage.

At our 1994 horizontal back in 2014, the Niepoort, Quinta do Passadouro, and Broadbent were all heavily infected. The tasting was done blind, but once the VA started showing up we were all able to quickly identify the 3 Ports. We couldn't tell which was which, but we knew what the 3-bottle lot was.

1997s can be hit or miss, but there's generally some VA in them. If you don't mind low levels of VA in your Port, you'd probably be fine with them.

2000s are spectacular and completely clean. No worries at all with that vintage.

[JanTore]

Probably a good thing I've only got a couple of bottles of the 1997, then, whereas I invested more heavily in the 2000.

[Andy Velebil]

Niepoort had a bad VA issue from mid 1980’s until 1999. So far their 2000’s and Later vintages have not shown any VA I am aware of. So what you experienced was VA and sadly, but in hindsight a blessing, you didn’t buy more than the one bottle.

[Mike J. W.]

As Andy stated, the problem reaches back to the mid-80's. I recently opened a 1985 Niepoort and it was the same exact thing that you experienced Jan, acetone / airplane glue. I have a few more of the '85 and a couple of the '97. Based on the track record of other posters as well as my own, I'll be happy if half of the bottles are drinkable. Good luck with yours as well.