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Niepoort and the New Portugal

Niepoort Portuguese dry wine

Exploring Niepoort’s Portuguese dry wine, their love of indigenous grapes, and the future of a wine powerhouse.

Mention Portuguese wine, and most enthusiasts today will nod knowingly — Vinho Verde for crisp whites, Alentejo for bold reds, Dão and Bairrada for structure and ageability. Portugal has long shaken off its one-dimensional “Port-only” image.

But how did this transformation happen?

One of the most fascinating ways to trace Portugal’s wine renaissance is through the impressive evolution of one of its historic Port houses: Niepoort.

Over the past three decades, Niepoort has risen from a respected producer of traditional fortified wines into one of the country’s most admired names in dry, table wines. Their story, from early risks, to region-hopping, championing indigenous grapes, and a dogged pursuit of freshness, mirrors the broader shift that has propelled Portugal to new heights in recent years.

From Port to Portugal’s Wine Vanguard

Founded in 1842, Niepoort was long respected for its classic Ports. But things began to shift when Dirk Niepoort, the fifth generation of the family, took the helm in the late 1980s.

At the time, the Douro was still overwhelmingly associated with fortified wine. A handful of revered dry reds existed, led by Casa Ferreirinha’s iconic Barca Velha, but they were rare exceptions. It was Dirk, in large part, that galvanized a generation of producers to ask the question: what if the Douro region, with its well-drained, schist soils, steep slopes, beneficial river, and old vines, could produce great dry wines too?

Niepoort’s early efforts, notably Redoma Tinto and Redoma Branco, rapidly gained attention. Where many Portuguese whites of the era were lean and prone to rapid oxidation, and red wines were unabashedly big and bold, often with a certain rusticity, his were elegant and fresh. From a baking-hot climate, Dirk showed that balanced wines with restrained alcohol were not only possible — they could be deeply expressive. His vision was shaped in part by his admiration for Burgundy, particularly the transparency and finesse of Chambolle-Musigny and Volnay, which inspired his lighter touch in both red and white winemaking.

Dirk and his team worked with field blends of old-vine Touriga Franca, Tinta Roriz, Rabigato, and Codega do Larinho — championing indigenous varieties and historic vineyards. Rather than isolate or simplify, they embraced the complexity of these mixed plantings, treating them with low-intervention techniques and an emphasis on freshness. It was a distinctly modern interpretation of traditional Douro terroir, informed by global influences yet rooted firmly in place.

Quinta da Napoles estate in the Douro
Quinta da Napoles estate in the Douro. Photo credit: Niepoort Vinhos.

Beyond the Douro: Chasing Freshness Across Portugal

What’s perhaps most fascinating about Niepoort’s evolution is how it mirrors the modern diversification of Portuguese wine. While Dirk was one of the earliest and most vocal champions of this shift, he wasn’t alone. A growing movement of producers were reimagining what Portuguese wine could be: fresher, more transparent, more expressive of place. Among them were Anselmo Mendes in Vinho Verde, Luis Pato in Bairrada, and Álvaro Castro in the Dão.

In the ensuing years, Dirk and his team decided to look beyond Douro in their pursuit of interesting indigenous varieties, old vine plots, and fascinating terroirs. By the mid-1990s, Dirk had begun exploring Bairrada, attracted by its cool Atlantic influence and limestone-rich soils. This early interest culminated with the purchase of Quinta de Baixo, leading to refined Baga reds like Lagar de Baixo and Poeirinho.

The mountainous terrain and granite slopes of the Dão, yielded elegant bottlings like Conciso and the Dialogo. In the hot, dry Alentejo region of Southern Portugal, Niepoort sought out higher-altitude sites in the region’s cooler northern reaches to bring nuance and vitality to the wines, among them, the Copo Alegre white and red.

In 2015, his attention shifted to Vinho Verde’s Basto sub-region, where breezy, granitic hillsides provided the ideal setting for crisp, mineral-driven whites such as Dócil Loureiro and Teppo Peixe. Across these diverse landscapes, a shared philosophy emerges: harvest early, intervene minimally, and let the character of the vineyard shine through.

Today, Niepoort’s winemaking goes beyond Portugal. They also produce wines in regions like Germany’s Mosel Valley and across Spain, applying the same focus on expressing the character of each site.

Indigenous Grapes, Organic Practices, and a Shift in Identity

The Niepoort team applying a self prepared herbal tea blend of nettle, horsetail and chamomile to the vines.
Biodynamic preparations being applied by the Niepoort team. Photo credit: Niepoort Vinhos.

One of Portugal’s great strengths is its genetic diversity, according to some sources, second only to Italy in the number of native grape varieties. And Niepoort has championed that diversity at every turn.

Rather than chasing international styles or planting global varieties, Niepoort has doubled down on grapes like Encruzado, Bical, Maria Gomes, Arinto, and Loureiro. The number of white wines in the family’s range has exploded in recent years, reflecting the broader trend in Portugal toward vibrant, textured, mineral-driven whites. Indeed, at a recent tasting, it was the whites that stole the show, in this author’s humble opinion.

Equally notable is Niepoort’s commitment to sustainable viticulture. Many of their vineyards are certified organic or biodynamic (though not all are certified), and there’s a strong focus on minimal intervention in both vineyard and cellar.

The result? A wide spectrum of wines — from playful, glou-glou Nat Cool bottlings to cellar-worthy icons like Charme (an homage to Chambolle-Musigny) and Coche, one of Portugal’s top white wines.

A Changing of the Guard

Today, the Niepoort story enters a new chapter. Daniel Niepoort, the sixth generation, has stepped into the role of head winemaker. While Dirk remains closely involved, Daniel brings a quiet focus and deep passion for viticulture — often spending more time in the vineyards than in the cellar.

This transition reflects a broader generational shift happening across Portuguese wine just as it gains the international recognition it deserves. Alongside Daniel, producers like Filipa Pato in Bairrada, Luis Seabra in Douro, Pedro Marques from Vale de Capucha in Lisboa, and Tiago Teles in Bairrada are pushing boundaries in their regions. At the same time, Portugal’s established houses — from Ramos Pinto to Barbeito — are evolving rapidly to keep pace with the new wave.

What’s Next for Niepoort… and for Portugal?

If the past is any indication, Niepoort won’t stop innovating. New collaborations, continued exploration of forgotten grapes, and fresh interpretations of Portuguese terroir are surely on the horizon.

But perhaps what’s most exciting is how the Niepoort story reflects Portugal’s broader wine narrative: a country with deep traditions, daring ideas, and a future that feels brighter with every bottle.

Stand out Wines from my Recent Niepoort Portuguese dry wine tasting:

Niepoort ADN Alvarinho 2024 – 93pts. PW

Made in partnership with Vinho Verde maestro, Anselmo Mendes, the ADN Alvarinho is a zesty, refreshing white wine with vivid quince, apricot, ripe lemon, and hints of green almond. Medium in body, with a nice balance of tart citrus and riper stone fruit. Finishes bone dry.

Niepoort Copo Alegre Branco 2020, Alentejo – 91pts. PW

This is one of Niepoort’s newer projects, in the mountainous north of Alentejo. The grapes for this traditional blend, led by Arinto, Roupeiro, and Fernão Pires grow on limestone slopes. The result is ripe and seductive, with notes of honeysuckle, yellow stone fruit, lemon peel, and subtle nutty undertones. The palate is crisp and broad, with with a rounded mid-palate and refreshing bitters providing lift to an otherwise quite soft finish.

Niepoort Conciso Branco 2022, Dão – 95pts. LW

This Bical, Malvasia, and Encruzado blend is fermented and aged 20 months in large oak casks, giving a satiny texture and well integrated laquer of toasty, vanilla nuances on the nose and palate. Aromas of lemongrass, beeswax, and white blossom give way to a racy, citrussy character on the palate. The acidic punch and taut initial structure is beautifully balanced by the ripe fruit and enveloping oaked notes on the finish.

Niepoort V. V. Vinhas Velhas 2021, Bairrada – 92pts.

Cooling sea breezes and limestone soils give this blend of Bical and Maria Gomes (aka Fernão Pires) a bracing, green citrus character that nicely offsets the fleshy, rounded mid-palate. Toasty. vanilla oaked notes mingle with macerated yellow fruit, and hints of almond on the nose. Finishes supple and dry.

Niepoort Redoma Branco Reserva 2023, Douro – 95pts. LW

The 2023 vintage of this grand Douro white is a study in power and elegance, with its attractive flinty, hazelnut, lemon, and orchard fruit aromas, soaring over hints of toasted oak. The palate is lively and layered, with a creamy, fairly concentrated mid-palate and lingering green fruit, nutty, and savoury flavours.

Niepoort Conciso Tinto 2017, Dão – 89pts. PW

The Conciso Tinto is made from 80 – 100 year old Baga and Jaen vineyards, on Niepoort’s Quinta da Lomba property in the Dão. The nose is an inviting, effusive array of ripe red fruits, spanning the range from rhubarb to raspberry, with herbal, brambly undertones. The palate begins nicely, in a fresh, medium bodied manner, but gamey, leathery notes slightly overpower the fruit, from my palate, ending with slightly coarse-edged tannins.

Niepoort Poeirinho 2020, Bairrada – 94pts. LW

The Poeirinho cuvée, from Niepoort’s Quinta de Baixo, is proof positive of the finesse a well-made, old-vine Baga wine can offer. Pretty aromas of macerated strawberry, dried plum, floral, and brambly notes harmonize nicely on the nose. The palate is brisk and full-bodied, with a firm, sinewy structure and ripe yet still quite grippy tannins. Needs 2 – 4 years further to soften. Excellent moderate term ageing potential.

Niepoort Charme 2022, Douro – 96pts. LW

This Bourgogne inspired Tinta Roriz and Touriga Franca old vine blend is crushed and initially macerated in lagares, then aged for 18-months in French oak barrels. Heady notes of morello cherry, red plum, hibiscus, wood spice, and subtle earthiness define the nose. The palate is hugely complex, with fresh, juicy acidity lifting and lightening the ample frame. This is a highly concentrated red, with layers of spiced, toasty oak, and fine, velvety tannins. Needs another 3 – 4 years to fully harmonize, with easily another 10 – 15 years ageing potential.

Where to purchase these wines ?

Sadly for my local audience, all of these wines are private imports. Look out for them at fine-drining restaurants, like the excellent Ferreira Café where this tasting (and a fantastic lunch) took place. Inquire with the agent for prices and buying options: Alivin Québec. For readers from outside of Québec, websites like WineSearcher give a great overview of stockists near you.

Producers Reviews

THE SUSTAINABLE STORY OF SOUTHBROOK VINEYARDS

Southbrook Vineyards
Photo credit: Southbrook Vineyards

Re-printing of an article published on JancisRobinson.com 

Bill Redelmeier does not believe in half measures. “When I was a kid, I loved collecting things like baseball cards and fossils. Now, I collect certifications” he chuckles. Indeed, Southbrook Vineyards, Canada’s largest organic and biodynamic winery, is certified by Ecocert Canada, Demeter, and Sustainable Winemaking Ontario. What’s more, the estate’s hospitality pavilion was built to a LEED (Leadership in Energy and Environmental Design) Gold Standard.

A slow smile spreads across Redelmeier’s face when I ask what inspired this zeal for sustainability.  Telling stories is what he loves.  “I grew up on a farm” he says, settling back in his chair. “My father always told me: you have to work twice as hard as your staff. You have to learn all of the jobs firsthand, because you can’t expect others to do things that you are not willing to do.” For a young Bill Redelmeier, this meant long hours atop a tractor, spraying pesticides, and herbicides on corn crops.

Redelmeier’s watershed moment came with the birth of his first child. “My wife wouldn’t let me use the washing machine at home because she didn’t want to wash Andrew’s clothes in the same machine. This really got me thinking. I didn’t want to subject myself to the chemicals any longer and I couldn’t ask my employees to do it either”.

In 1991, Redelmeier established Southbrook Winery, a négociant-éleveur business making wine from grapes sourced in Ontario’s Niagara Peninsula. The wines were a popular addition to the family’s bustling farm market north of Toronto. When, in the early 2000s, respected Canadian winemaker, and ardent biodynamic practitioner Ann Sperling became available for consultation services, Redelmeier leapt at the opportunity.

By 2005, Redelmeier was ready to move away from the family farm and devote himself to his passion project, establishing an organic and biodynamic estate vineyard in Niagara. Southbrook Vineyards found its home on a 75-acre plot in Niagara’s Four Mile Creek sub-appellation with Sperling on board as Director of Winemaking and Viticulture.

While Redelmeier and Sperling were equally convinced of the qualitative advantage of biodynamic farming, Sperling also valued its practical benefits. “Organics is a lot about what you can’t do, whereas biodynamics provides solutions” she explains. “It adds an awful lot to the toolbox when you think about all of the various teas, the compost preps, all the things that are building biodiversity above the ground and making healthier vines.”

In the interest of improving vine health, the duo took a radical decision. Diseased vines due to leaf-roll and red blotch virus are a widespread problem in Ontario, and throughout North America. “At Southbrook, we started re-planting our vineyards early, so almost everything that we are growing now is virus-free” says Sperling, adding that “it is like night and day in terms of how well the vineyards are responding.” Not only has she witnessed more resistant vines with earlier ripening grapes, but the results in the winery have also impressed her. “When everything is working well in the vineyard the fermentations are more successful, and the wines have better structure and balance.”

In 2006, alongside vineyard re-planting and certifications, Southbrook was also breaking ground on their LEED Gold Standard hospitality pavilion. As part of the overall vineyard eco-system, it made sense to Redelmeier that the building should be an equally important part of the equation.  With its white, reflective PVC roof, its highly insulated walls, triple-glazed floor-to-ceiling windows, automatic faucets, and dual flush toilets, the pavilion is a model of energy efficiency.

Just beyond its cheerful purple façade lies a 170MwH solar panel field that has yielded an 80% reduction in the winery’s net electricity consumption. Running the length of the pavilion is a large strip of bioswale, whose native wetland plants break down pollutants from storm water that drains in from the property’s paved surfaces. Further wetlands on the property treat wastewater and disperse purified water into the surrounding soil.

To enhance the property’s biodiversity, Redelmeier purchased an adjoining 75-acre parcel of land in 2008. “It has about 15 acres of forest, which serves as a biodiversity reserve, and 60 acres of pastureland” says Sperling. The pastures are now the site of Linc Farm, home to a thriving population of sheep, cattle, pigs and laying hens raised in non-GMO, chemical-free conditions. The operation is managed by Sperling’s daughter and partner, animal welfare specialists. The arrangement suits Redelmeier perfectly. “She pays me shit for rent” he says with a grin, referring to the excellent compost and manure the farm animals provide.

The winery’s culture of ecological and ethical production is something Redelmeier and Sperling work hard to instill in their staff. “It is a constant exercise due to routine seasonal staff turn over” Sperling admits, but they persist, taking every opportunity to bring the team out to the vineyards and winery to learn. They also derive comfort in the knowledge that they are providing a safe environment for employees, visitors, and the community at large. “Nothing leaves our property that is going to harm or negatively affect people in anyway” says Sperling.

Organic viticulture is far from the norm in Ontario. According to Redelmeier, only 1% of the province’s vineyards are farmed organically. To encourage local growers to convert, Redelmeier has established long-term organic grape buying contracts, adding wines from sourced grapes alongside his range of estate bottlings. For now, he has no plans to expand the estate’s plantings. Preserving vineyard biodiversity is integral to Southbrook’s philosophy. “To go out and walk along the edge of the vineyard in the late summer and suddenly you’re surrounded by Monarch butterflies, that is a delight” says Sperling, detailing the recovery of this absent native species upon planting milkweed in their meadows.

Southbrook’s sustainability commitments don’t stop at the winery gates. “We source most of our bottles from an Ontario manufacturer of light-weight glass composed of 80% recycled materials. The labels are from Ontario. The Stelvin capsules are from Québec” explains Redelmeier. Transport costs are also low. The winery sells the majority of its production in a 160km radius around Niagara. Since the COVID-19 pandemic, Redelmeier and his son have even taken to hand delivering orders to clients around the province. “If one good thing has come from this situation, it is the closer personal relationships we are developing with our customers” he says.

Despite his positive outlook Redelmeier admits that, while Southbrook is on solid economic footing, turning a profit is a constant challenge. According to a 2018 industry-wide benchmarking survey rising land, labour, and input costs, coupled with poor gross margins through the province’s alcohol monopoly, the Liquor Control Board of Ontario (LCBO), are major limiting factors for Ontario wineries. Yields are also low, notably in Southbrook’s biodynamic model. “When I started the winery, Ann made me promise to never go over two tonnes per acre. We may get there someday” Redelmeier says, unfazed.

For Redelmeier, the estate’s low yields are integral to the high-quality wines they strive to produce. Quality wines made with respect for the land and the people involved, this was the dream when setting up Southbrook, and remains the estate’s vision for the future. The way Sperling sees it, “we are the mask wearers – to use pandemic terms – we are the ones that are thinking about the big picture, the long-term; making decisions that protect us but also protect others”.


Southbrook Vineyards wines can be found in select liquor stores across Canada. To get your taste buds tingling, here are my tasting notes from a selection of three wines that were generously provided to me by the winery’s Québec agent: Vertigo Vins & Spiritueux

bubbly   riesling   vidal

 

Southbrook Vineyards Bubbly Pét Nat 2018, VQA Beamsville Bench

Inviting aromas of spiced apple cider on the nose, underscored by hints of brioche and white flowers. Zesty high acid and fine, vigorous bubbles lift and shape the medium bodied, bone dry palate. Finishes with a touch of refreshing bitterness and flavours of digestive biscuit and tangy, dry cider.

Where to Buy: SAQ (27.95$), LCBO (29.95$)

Southbrook Vineyards Riesling “Laundry Vineyard” 2018, VQA Vinemount Ridge

Delicate aromas of ripe lemon, white orchard fruit and honey feature on the nose. The palate is equally engaging with its racy acidity tempered by just a hint of honeyed sweetness, its silky texture, light body and juicy fruit flavours. A very elegant unoaked white wine.

Where to Buy: Direct from the winery (2017 vintage. 22.75$), inquire with agent in Québec

Southbrook Vineyards Skin Fermented Vidal 2019, VQA Ontario

Pale amber in colour, with distinctive notes of quince, gooseberry, and orange zest perched above an earthy bass note. Lipsmacking high acid like a jolt of electricity on the palate, with a textural, grapefruit pith astringency, light body, and very dry, juicy finish. Packs quite a flavour and texture punch for its modest 10.7% alcohol.

Where to Buy: SAQ (29.95$), LCBO (29.95$)