It is a rare type of port wine, better known among more avid fans of port wine, whose vintages and number of bottles are limited on the market.
In Portuguese, the term „garrafeira“ (pronounced: gah-rah-faj-ruh) literally means „bottle rack, bottle storage“ or „wine cellar“. However, do not confuse with the word Garrafeira – a designation typical of Portuguese table wine in a style similar to Reserva.
Garrafeira is a unique specialty of the Niepoort family winery. After 3 – 6 years of lying in a barrel, the port wine is bottled in 8 – 11 liter demijohns, where it continues to mature for more than 50 years.
It is a rare type of port wine, better known among more avid fans of port wine, whose vintages and number of bottles are limited on the market.
In Portuguese, the term „garrafeira“ (pronounced: gah-rah-faj-ruh) literally means „bottle rack, bottle storage“ or „wine cellar“. However, do not confuse with the word Garrafeira – a designation typical of Portuguese table wine in a style similar to Reserva.
It is interesting that these demijohns were manufactured in a factory in Flensburg, Germany, around 1780 and were originally intended for storing beer. Later, the Dutch Niepoort family bought 200 of them and transported them to Portugal.
The first Garrafeira was created in 1931 by the grandfather of the current owner Dirk Niepoort, supposedly out of curiosity about how the best wines will behave in these containers. To date, only another 7 years have been created.
Garrafeira excels with its extraordinarily velvety taste in a harmony of fresh and dried fruit and a dark cognac color. It contains about 110 g/l of residual sugar and mostly 20.5 % alcohol.
It is said to be the best, without any delicacies, but in the company of closest friends.
And what if you get a taste for it? It is definitely available, for example, you can buy the Niepoort Garrafeira from 1977 in foreign e-shops for around 700 USD. Maybe enough for a regular wallet, but the uniqueness of Garrafeira is definitely worth it!
