The harvest occurred from from 7th September until 12th October Following a relatively cold and a very dry winter, the growing season was also low in rainfall, hence with low humidity the absence of diseases in the vineyard was evident. A very hot summer, gave rise to vine stress which was most evident especially in hot low lying south facing vineyards leading to berry shrivel and slightly unbalanced fruit. However a light rain shower in early September allowed fruit maturation to achieve completion. The harvest started early, with very clean fruit arriving at the Winery at Quinta de Napoles (dedicated to Niepoort table wines) and at the Winery at Vale de Mendiz (dedicated to Niepoort port wines) and the sorting table, used to remove any poor fruit, also allowed us to remove berry shrivel. The weather during harvest was perfect with no rain, warm days and cool nights, the wines showed very good colour and aroma during fermentation, with yields marginally higher than in 2004.

Grape selection II (Photo by Manfred Klimek)

Picking up the grapes (Photo by Manfred Klimek)

Grape selection  I (Photo by Manfred Klimek)

Quinta de Napoles: Some very fine, elegant wines with good acidity have been made with a lot of personality; especially those sourced from cooler north, east facing old vineyards on higher ground exhibiting great freshness. Overall, a better picture of the wines will emerge after the malolactic fermentation but at this stage the wines show a lot of promise and with careful selection of fruit on receival at the winery, the wines show concentration and balance while avoiding the overripe characters which could be expected in such a year.

Vale de Mendiz: Some very fine, elegant port wines have been made with a lot of personality; especially those sourced from cooler north facing vineyards on higher ground exhibiting great freshness. Overall, a better picture of the wines will emerge in the spring but at this stage the wines show a lot of promise and with careful selection of fruit on receival at the winery, the wines show concentration and balance while avoiding the overripe characters which could be expected in such a year