Douro table wine. How the Niepoorts looked beyond Port.

A valley of schist and altitude

The Douro is a deeply cut valley in northern Portugal, named after the river that rises in Spain as the Duero. Most of northern Portugal sits on granite, but the Douro wine region follows an outcrop of schist on both sides of the river. Altitude matters enormously here: down by the river it is hot, while higher up the slopes and on the plateau the climate is much cooler, and white grapes grow at several hundred meters.

That range gives the Douro many possible styles. As the film explains, the best sites for Port are not necessarily the best for dry wine. Port loves heat and south-facing slopes; table wine needs freshness, acidity and lightness, so growers seeking elegance head up the mountain and look for north-facing vineyards.

The Niepoorts: a Dutch family in Porto

Niepoort was founded in 1842 and is still a Dutch family company, even if the family feels thoroughly Portuguese. For most of its history it was a tiny Port shipper that bought, aged and blended wine in Porto and owned no vineyards of its own in the Douro. Dirk Niepoort's father, Rolf, kept the business stable but cared more for cars and collections than for wine.

When Dirk joined in 1987, he caught the bug for making wine in the Douro itself. His first red, Robustus, was made in 1990 in a few barrels, and the reaction at home was not warm. Watch the film to hear what happened to most of that first vintage while Dirk was away on his honeymoon, and why his son Daniel later claimed what was left. Redoma, made from 1991 and seen by the family as its most authentic expression of the Douro, and Batuta, the wine that aims highest, followed.

Old vines and field blends

Niepoort works mainly with old vineyards and mixed plantings. The Douro has more than a hundred grape varieties, and traditionally they were planted side by side, red and white together, picked on the same day and foot-trodden in the same trough. Asked which grape is in a wine, the family likes to answer simply: many.

Since the 1980s most new plantings have used a short list of recommended varieties in single blocks, which risks losing genetic diversity. Jamie Goode discusses the intriguing, still unproven idea that old vines adapt to their site and even to each other over decades. Niepoort's approach is to pick earlier for definition and freshness, use native yeasts, and accept a little firmness in youth because it helps the wines age.

Beyond the Douro: Dão and Bairrada

The family's curiosity did not stop at the Douro. In the Dão, a granite region ringed by mountains, Niepoort bought Quinta da Lomba, where old bottles from the 1940s convinced the family that great aging wines need not be heavily extracted. In Bairrada, near the Atlantic, with cooler weather and chalky soils, Dirk found his favorite terroir for the difficult Baga grape, which is often compared to Nebbiolo.

Biodynamic farming started in Bairrada and has spread to the other estates. Daniel explains it with a simple story about a farmer, his straw and the ants, while Jamie Goode weighs the science against the results he tastes.

Passing the baton to Daniel

Succession is the great challenge for any wine family, especially one shaped by a figure as influential as Dirk. Daniel trained through a hands-on apprenticeship in Switzerland and harvests around the world before joining, and he now leads winemaking while his father concentrates on experiments and new areas.

Richard Mayson, who has known the family for decades, and Jamie Goode describe a father and son who share the same taste for precise, fresh wines. The film is a warm, frank portrait of three generations, a famous family argument about wine, and a valley that has learned to be more than Port.

Go furtherWant to taste along? Find Niepoort’s wines and where to buy them near you on Wine-Searcher.