Niepoort Coche Branco Douro DOC 2024

Dirk Niepoort chose the name on purpose: Coche-Dury in Burgundy is the benchmark his most exclusive white wine measures itself against. The Coche grows in the Douro, on mica schist at around 600 meters, in a field blend of vines over 80 years old with Rabigato, Códega do Larinho and Arinto. The 2024 vintage was cooler, and alcohol stayed low. The Coche is fermented and aged for twelve months in French barriques, made reductively, with partial malolactic fermentation. In the glass, flint and cold ash, lemon, stone fruit, white flowers, herbal infusion. On the palate it is dense and precise, with firm grip and great length. For us, one of the great white wines of the Iberian Peninsula.