UBUNTU!! A special edition of the “Fabulous” series to celebrate the World Cup in South Africa! The artist Leonora van Staden, from Stellenbosh, drew this amusing label showing animals playing a great football match! Ubuntu is an ethic or humanist philosophy focusing on people's loyalties and relationships. The word has its origin in the Bantu languages of southern Africa and is seen as a classical African concept. Dirk Niepoort, a football fan, explains the concept and the relation with football: "In football, as in life, the concept stands for "humanity" and "public spirit" but also for the belief in a universal band of sharing. " The idea with this wine is to express the Douro Valley character in an approachable way, avoiding heaviness or over extraction, giving freshness and taking the usual oak influence. Ubuntu 2007 is produced from vineyards of the Cima Corgo region, a blend of many Douro varieties like Touriga Franca, Tinta Roriz, Touriga Nacional, Tinta Barroca and Tinto Cão. It's an intense wine, full of Douro character but with great freshness, showing smooth tannins and fruity aromas.
- Vinification
2007 was an amazing year for the Douro region, with good amount of rainfall during the year and cool temperatures during the maturation season, it gave us very elegant wines but with high concentration level due to the low yields all over Douro. The wines were fermented in stainless steel vats with 10 to 15 days of skin contact, only 20% was aged in French oak barrels.
- Tasting Notes
It is a dark ruby wine with an intense red fruit aroma and spicy character. On the palate it is
young, dense, with appealing freshness and juicy tannins, good acidity and attractive structure.
- Technical Information
-
Producer
- Niepoort (Vinhos) S.A.
Region
- Douro
Soil Type
- Schist
Vineyards
- Several
Average Vine Age
- 10 to 40 years
Grape Varieties
- Touriga Franca, Touriga Nacional, Tinta Roriz, Tinta Amarela, Tinta Barroca
Vines per HA
- 4000
Pruning Method
- Guyot
Alt. from Sea Level
- 100-400 m
Harvest Period
- September
Harvest Method
- Hand picked
Malolactic
- Cask and stainless steel
Fermentation
- Stainless steel vats
Bottled
- March 2009
Ageing
- 12 months in french oak casks (20%) Stainless steel (80%)
Dry Extract
- 28.7
Residual Sugar (g/dm3)
- 2.4
Alcohol (%)
- 13
Total Acidity (g/dm3)
- 4.96
Volatile Acidity (g/dm3)
- 0.48
Free SO2 at Bottling (mg/dm3)
- 28
Production
- 6.000 bottles
Food Suggestions
- White meats. Vegetarian Suggestions: Noodles, pasta dishes.
UBUNTU!! A special edition of the “Fabulous” series to celebrate the World Cup in South Africa! The artist Leonora van Staden, from Stellenbosh, drew this amusing label showing animals playing a great football match! Ubuntu is an ethic or humanist philosophy focusing on people's loyalties and relationships. The word has its origin in the Bantu languages of southern Africa and is seen as a classical African concept. Dirk Niepoort, a football fan, explains the concept and the relation with football:“In football, as in life, the concept stands for "humanity" and "public spirit" but also for the belief in a universal band of sharing.” The idea with this wine is to express the Douro Valley character in an approachable way, avoiding heaviness or over extraction, giving freshness and taking the usual oak influence. UBUNTU!! 2008 has this spirit, a blend of many Douro varieties like Touriga Franca, Tinta Roriz, Touriga Nacional, Tinta Barroca and Tinto Cão, giving a fresh, pure fruit wine, with the complexity of a Douro wine. UBUNTU!! 2008, a wine which symbolizes the joy and celebration of good food, good friends, good life, a wine for pure pleasure!
- Vinification
2008 was an unusual fresh and damp year, for Douro region standards. As a result we had a slow and very balanced maturation process in the vineyards, with very good weather during harvest and ideal conditions to produce fantastic Douro wines. Grapes were picked during September and beginning of October, fermentation occurred in stainless steel vats with maceration periods between 8 to 15 days. Only 20% of the wine aged during 12 months in used French oak barrels.
- Tasting Notes
This is a dark ruby wine, with intense red fruit and spicy aromas, along with a schist stony character. On the palate is vibrant and appealing, with juicy tannins and very good acidity that provides long lasting aftertaste.
- Technical Information
-
Producer
- Niepoort (Vinhos) S.A.
Region
- Douro
Soil Type
- Schist
Vineyards
- Several
Average Vine Age
- 10 to 40 years
Grape Varieties
- Touriga Franca, Touriga Nacional, Tinta Roriz, Tinta Amarela and Tinto Cão
Vines per HA
- 4000
Pruning Method
- Guyot and Royat
Alt. from Sea Level
- 100-500 m
Harvest Period
- September and October
Harvest Method
- Hand picked
Malolactic
- Cask and stainless steel
Fermentation
- Stainless steel vats
Bottled
- May 2010
Ageing
- 12 months in French oak casks (20%) Stainless steel (80%)
Dry Extract
- 27.4
Residual Sugar (g/dm3)
- 2.4
Alcohol (%)
- 13
Total Acidity (g/dm3)
- 5.05
Volatile Acidity (g/dm3)
- 0.53
Free SO2 at Bottling (mg/dm3)
- 25
Production
- 12.000 bottles
Food Suggestions
- White meats. Vegetarian Suggestions: Noodles, pasta dishes.
UBUNTU!! A special edition to celebrate the World Cup in South Africa! The artist Leonora van Staden, from Stellenbosh, drew this amusing label showing animals playing a great football match! Ubuntu is an ethic or humanist philosophy focusing on people's loyalties and relationships. The word has its origin in the Bantu languages of southern Africa and is seen as a classical African concept.
Dirk, a football fan, explains the concept and the relation with football:“In football, as in life, the concept stands for "humanity" and "public spirit" but also for the belief in a universal band of sharing.”
- Vinification
2009 was a very fresh year until the beginning of August. A good amount of water in the soil and a cold weather, unusual in the Douro Valley, was leading us to a long maturation season. But incredible high temperatures from 12th of August onwards, resulted in a very fast maturation process all over the region without any shrivel berry. Harvest started earlier, in the beginning of September.
The fermentation occurred in stainless still vats, with 8 to 15 days of total skin contact. Only 20% of the wine aged in used French oak barrels.
- Tasting Notes
The color is darker than the previous year and reveals intense red and black fruit aromas with spicy and wet stone notes. On the palate the wine is rich but fresh with soft tannins and an excellent acidity providing a long lasting after taste.
- Technical Information
-
Producer
- Niepoort (Vinhos) S.A.
Region
- Douro
Soil Type
- Schist
Vineyards
- Several
Average Vine Age
- 10 to 40 years
Grape Varieties
- Touriga Franca, Touriga Nacional, Tinta Roriz,Tinta Amarela, Tinto Cão and others
Vines per HA
- 4000
Pruning Method
- Guyot and Royat
Alt. from Sea Level
- 100-500 m
Harvest Period
- September
Harvest Method
- Hand picked
Malolactic
- Cask and stainless steel
Fermentation
- Stainless steel vats
Bottled
- May 2011
Ageing
- 12 months in french oak casks (20%) Stainless steel (80%)
Dry Extract
- 28.9
Residual Sugar (g/dm3)
- 2.2
Alcohol (%)
- 13.5
Total Acidity (g/dm3)
- 5.06
Volatile Acidity (g/dm3)
- 0.57
Free SO2 at Bottling (mg/dm3)
- 35
Production
- 300 000 bottles
Food Suggestions
- White meats. Vegetarian Suggestions: Noodles, pasta dishes.