Harrogate Fine Wine Journal

The return of Meerlust Cabernet

On a recent fact finding mission around the cellars of Meerlust, we were able to have a taste of the new Meerlust Cabernet 2004 and wow what a wine!

Meerlust gained its reputation for producing superb Cabernet Sauvignon wines in the ‘70s and ‘80s. With the emergence of Rubicon as the Iconic red from South Africa, the last Meerlust Cabernet Sauvignon to be produced was in 1993.

Understanding the distinctive complexity of Cabernet Sauvignon grown on the Estate, Meerlust undertook an extensive planting programme in the mid ‘90s. Now that those vines are reaching maturity, Meerlust was able to produce both Rubicon and Cabernet Sauvignon in 2004.

The 2004 vintage Cabernet Sauvignon was produced from a single vineyard and captures the distinctive essence of this variety grown at Meerlust.

Meerlust 2004 £18.99

12 bottles after 10% discount would cost £205.10 (national delivery would be a further £9.99)

Niepoort heads to another level...

I was lucky enough to spend a few days in Northern Portugal last week and one of the many highlights was the day we spent with Niepoort. No one can deny that Niepoort are already one of the leading players in the new wave of Portugal’s table wines. So I could not help asking myself just what are they going to be capable of in the new state of the art winery they have just built. This new winery is possible the most impressive building I have been in, it was quite simply awesome and the possibilities are endless.





My mind boggles at what impact the new winery could have on the quality of Niepoort's wines and judging by the barrel samples of the 2007 whites, Niepoort are destined to go on to bigger and better things (which does seem incredible by their already high standards).

More pictures of the winery can be found here http://www.niepoort-vinhos.com/NewsQuintaDeNapoles.html

Of the wines I tasted, the 2006 red Redoma looks likely to be winner, its not been blended as yet but they are not going to do Batuta in 06, so although a tricky vintage the quality of the Redoma looks assured and because of the vintage it may be forgotten by some.

The 07 whites looked ace, pin sharp and truly expressive I can’t wait to see the finished products.

We also had a look at a 10 year old white port (white port is the only port made at Quinta de Nápoles) only a tiny amount of this is made and I am not even sure if any will come to the UK but rest assured if any does then more than the odd bottle will be coming home with me. So be sure to jump on this if any does come!

Dirk has also made a Vinho Verde with his mates at Quinta de Soalheiro, as Soalheiro already make the best Alvarinho in Portugal they decided to make it out of Loureiro and what a job they have done. The wine is called Girosol, which translated means cute sun (or at least that is what I was told over a long boozy dinner, have to say if I was them I may well have been a bit more mischievous with the translation but anyway I digress). A small allocation of this will be arriving shortly and will be delicious to drink over the summer months.

We will of course be able to give more information about these as well as many other great wines from Niepoort as more info becomes available. But in the mean time if anybody wants to drop us a line we will be more than happy to get straight back to you when we hear more.

We are also planning to do a tasting of the table wines of Niepoort in the near future, so watch this space.

Quinta dos Roques and Luis Pato reports to follow.