One of the quintas I chose to visit in the Douro Valley was Niepoort’s Quinta de Nápoles. It has been a mainstay in the Douro since 1842 with the sixth generation of the family (originally from Holland) still firmly ensconced in the day-to-day management of the company, and led by Dirk Niepoort.

Even the role of Master Blender has been kept by, and passed down to, the same descendants of the Nogueira family for five generations.

Niepoort is a famous Quinta which ships product worldwide, but it’s still run by family members – who follow their leader’s philosophies about grapes and winemaking, and observe organic and biodynamic principles.

We toured their impressive 3 story gravity fed facility which is built into the schist hillside, and tasted through their still and Port wines with Pedro. At Quinta de Nápoles, they have 34 ha of red grapes, all of which are field blends, as per the norm in Portugal. Each year they produce about 75% still wines and the remaining 25% are Ports.

This year, harvest ended on September 5, 2026. None of the ferments are innoculated and many are trod by foot in lagares – also a long standing tradition due to the lack of dependable electricity for years during the Salazar regime and until the Carnation Revolution in 1974. The ferments are not pumped over either – Dirk Niepoort’s philosophy chooses buckets (baldes) to infuse the wines instead of forcing a pumpover with hoses. This means the wines end up with finer tannins, lower alcohol and higher acidity.

I have never seen so many different types of tanks and barrels at one winery – from stainless steel, to amphorae, to barricas (225 litres), balseiros (500-10,000 litres) and all sizes in between.

There were also several works of art in the cellars, apparently painted by the current generation of Niepoorts.

The tasting was phenomenal and lengthy, with my favourite ending up the Colheita 2008. Colheitas (vintages) have to spend 7 years ageing and are always tawny Ports. There is no blending allowed.

Translucent tawny in colour, it showed off aromas and flavours of dried figs, maple sugar, cinnamon, roasted cacao beans, and baking spice. Despite having 110g of residual sugar, this Port was completely balanced and not cloying at all.

These are elegant, developed and ground-breaking wines fashioned by true stewards of the land.