TN: 2005 Niepoort Douro Tiara Branco (Portugal, Douro)

WINE TALK
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  • 2005 Niepoort Douro Tiara Branco - Portugal, Douro (8/23/2009)
    We cracked this to have with lunch on Sunday afternoon - accompanied heirloom tomato BLT’s. A little shy on the nose and palate initially, with about 20 minutes of air it started to really blossom. The nose showing a nice combination of lime skin, sea air, and a little glyceral quality. The palate is lively, although it seems to have lost a little acidity, with more lime skin, honeysuckle, minerals and spice. Very nice wine that was excellent with the sandwich but just as good on its own. (90 pts.)

Posted from CellarTracker

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This was a wine that I really enjoyed on release, and one i thought could age a bit, so I put a few aside to see how they did with some aging. A couple years later, it was time to see how it’s holding up.

The color seems to have gotten just a tad more golden yellow, but a light pale golden yellow. It took about 30-40 minutes for the fruit to totally come alive. The one thing I love about this wine is the minerality and spice this exhibits, both on the palate and finish. Touches of lime balance a little glycerin, making an enjoyable white Douro DOC. I’m not sure this will get any better with more aging, yet it still will hold for at least a couple more years. I’ll leave one bottle to try again in another couple years. 90 points
08/23/09

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I also liked this on release but I didn’t save any. I liked the Redoma white more and saved some that. It is still drinking very well.

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The Redoma Reserva? If so, that one rocks and I last had 3 bottles of it in January. It will last for quite some time to come, say another 6-8 years conservative estimate (only because there is no previous track record to go off of). I’ve got about a 1/2 case left and I’ll open them sparingly to track their aging. To bad you didn’t keep any, I thought the ones in January were better then the prior times I’ve had it, and it was excellent then.

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Didn’t keep the Tiara but kept the Redoma . . .

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Good man…let them age a little longer before cracking them.

I’ve kept many of the earlier Douro bottlings, mainly from Niepoort, Quinta do Vale Dona Maria (includes CV), and Quinta do Crasto, as experiments to see how they age. Since most didn’t start producing them for sale until the late 1990’s or early 2000’s, it should be fun to see what lives and what dies! Sometime in the next 4-5 years I’ll organize an offline and out they will all come

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But are yours the Redoma Reserva Branco or the regular Redoma Branco? There is 2 different Redoma whites.

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Don’t have any of the regular bottling any more just the Reserva.