When Dirk Niepoort joined his family’s Port business in 1987, he had a lot of history to respect. Niepoort was founded by his great-great-grandfather back in 1842. It had never been a large house, but the quality of the Port was very fine. Dirk quickly developed a great admiration in particular for the Ports and table wines that had been made by his grandfather, including the great 1945 Port. When it comes to Port, he hasn’t changed much in the family style: Niepoort still make exemplary Ports, more about elegance than sheer power.

But Dirk is one of life’s restless innovators. Inspired by the great table wines his grandfather made, he began to explore the potential of local grape varieties. Experiments and collaborations with other winemakers have seen him expand into most regions of Portugal at some point, but the Niepoort heartland remains very much the Douro Valley. The style of these wines is always about restraint and elegance, often with surprisingly low alcohol levels. To achieve this, Dirk seeks out elevated vineyards with less sunny aspects. These are often planted with old-vine field blends of traditional Douro varieties.

Dirk’s explorations have redefined what it means to make wine in the Douro, and in the process brought Niepoort a prominence it had never previously enjoyed. These days, 85% of Niepoort’s production is table wine, 15% is Port. And while Dirk is the first to admit that not every experiment always works, the best have become the new core of the range. /NT