Crazy Hatter Alentejo Red wine 2017
DOC, Niepoort, 750 ml
| Grape variety: | Aragonez, Trincadeira, Grand Noir, Alicante Bouschet, Castelão |
| Producer: | Dirk van der Niepoort |
| Origin: | Portugal / Alentejo |
Description
Dirk van der Niepoort has a great enthusiasm for Alentejo's Portoalegre region. After several joint wine projects with friends, it is now time to explore Portoalegre in his own way. Dirk is passionate about the granite and slate soils and the high altitudes of the mountains in the São Mamede Natural Park, which give the wines their freshness and elegance. The character typicity comes from the vineyards, located at an altitude of between 600 and 700 metres, whose average age of the vines is around 70 years, planted in the traditional mixed planting system. A wide-ranging, dark-fruited bouquet of freshly picked blackberries and cherries, figs, plums liquorice and vervain seduce the nose and invite the first sip. Excellent harmony between fragrance and palate. An interplay of fresh juiciness, silky tannin, elegance and harmony. The palate is enveloped by densely interwoven aromas reminiscent of mulberries and cherries, suede and Mediterranean herbs. A gourmet tip from our purchaser (with Mexican roots): Poularde with a Mexican chocolate sauce "Mole negro from Oaxaca). About the label: Those who have seen Niepoort know that he often wears a hat.
Our head sommelier Marc Almert about the Crazy Hatter Alentejo Red Wine
Dirk Niepoort has been described by VINUM as a "Legendary Winegrower". Born in Portugal with Flemish ancestry, he was one of the first in the Douro Valley to craft not only port but also red wines back in the 1980s, and he is now one of the most successful practitioners of the art. So successful, in fact, that he is using his expertise to help other, less well-known Portuguese wine regions make the leap onto the international stage. As part of the Crazy Hatters project, he has now taken the products of the Alentejos Portolalegre region, whose vineyards are dominated by granite and shale, and reinterpreted them as thoroughly quaffable dense and spicy cuvées with a hint of cherry. We say “Saúde” to this discovery!
Attributes
| Origin: | Portugal / Alentejo |
| Grape variety: | Aragonez, Trincadeira, Grand Noir, Alicante Bouschet, Castelão |
| Label: | Vegan |
| Ripening potential: | 2 to 8 years after harvest |
| Drinking temperature: | 16 to 18 °C |
| Food Pairing: | Latin American dishes, Cold fish dish, dried meat, Wild specialities, Wild fowl |
| Vinification: | partly destemmed, fermentation in cement tank |
| Harvest: | strict selection |
| Maturation: | in cement tank |
| Maturation duration: | 36 months |
| Volume: | 13.5 % |
| Note: | Contains sulphites |
Dirk van der Niepoort
Dirk van der Niepoort - great ambassador of the fantastic wines from the Douro Valley, is also active and creative in other Portuguese wine regions. His dream has long been to make wines in the microclimates of the Alentejo and Dãoos. The talented self-made winemaker, who likes to wear a hat, found what he was looking for and his crazy idea in these crazy times took shape in the form of Crazy Hatter wines.
Trincadeira
Alicante Bouschet
Concise in colour and flavour
The trademark of the Alicante Bouschet is its rich, dark colour. Like the Cinsault or Regent, it is one of the teinturier varieties. These are grapes with red flesh and red juice – for all other varieties, the pigments rest in the skin. The Alicante Bouschet was cultivated in Languedoc by Henri Bouschet in 1855. It is called “Alicante” because one of the hybrid partners was the Garnacha grape, which is traditionally referred to as Alicante in Spain. The Alicante Bouschet is found around the Mediterranean. The largest vineyards lie on Spain's Levante coast. In addition, it thrives in the Portugese Alentejo. It yields dark, robust, mellow wine with deep fruit.
Portugal
Portugal – Much more than port
Situated on the southwestern tip of Europe, this country is, despite its small size, blessed with a multitude of landscapes. Austere mountains alternate with green valleys and golden beaches. Vines have thrived against this backdrop for over 4,000 years, brought to the peninsula by Phoenicians, Greeks, and Romans.
Portugal has over 500 autochthonous varieties. The term derives from ancient Greek, and means roughly “of the land itself.”
