2015 Charme Tinto

Very subtle, while maintaining great richness. Dark berries, meat, spices and flowers on the nose. Full body, velvety tannins and a long and decadent finish. A blend of tinta roriz, touriga franca and others. So delicious now, but will improve nicely with age. Drink or hold.

Really not much fruit intensity on the nose, and the palate is similarly lean. Pretty straightforward and tight in terms of flavour profile. (RH)

The 2015 Charme is a field blend, particularly Tinta Roriz and Touriga Franca, aged for 15 months in used French barriques. It comes in at 13.6% alcohol. This is Niepoort's occasionally quixotic tribute to Burgundy. This is a good vintage for it, though. Elegant and bright, with fine flavor and texture, this is bursting with flavor. There are fresh raspberries everywhere, the tension on the finish easily lifting the fruit. It finishes with another wave of flavor, exuberant in its youth. This is, as always, understated in some ways, too, showing fine mid-palate finesse. This is probably my favorite vintage of this brand in awhile. It may be entitled to an uptick if it develops well. It may do better in terms of aging than suggested, as Niepoort hopes, but let's take that in stages. In the meanwhile, it should be approachable young, but give it a couple of years if you can.