Characteristics of Niepoort NatCool Drink Me
Niepoort NatCool Drink Me is a single-variety Baga red wine from the Beiras area of the DOC Bairrada made by Niepoort.
The Niepoort winery was founded in 1842 and makes Port wines and still wines. It is run by the Niepoort family. Since the very beginning, the winery has worked to unite tradition with modernity. They use traditional Portuguese techniques such as grape treading, fermentation in cement tanks or aging in pipes, 550-litre port-aging barrels, whilst also using new technologies that ensure the grapes are handled with care. They have vines in different locations, some of which are more than 100 years old, and they have their aging room, Serpa Pinta, in the town of Vila Nova de Gaia.
The Niepoort NatCool Drink Me vines are planted in limestone and clay soils and the vines are aged between 80 to 100 years old and trained using the Guyot system. They are harvested manually so the grapes can be selected in the field and handled with care to ensure they reach the winery as in-tact as possible.
Once in the winery the Niepoort NatCool Drink Me vintage is vatted whole and fermented in stainless steel for 5 weeks undergoing the so-called “carbonic maceration” process. It then undergoes malolactic fermentation and ages a little in steel tanks. Finally, it is bottled without filtering, which means some sediment may appear in the bottle over time.
Niepoort NatCool Drink Me is a very pleasant and fruity red wine that goes perfectly with light dishes as well as more complex food.