This was one of the first wines I bought from the Bottle Apostle, my local wine shop in Hackney, back in 2009. Previous experiences of this wine had indicated that it would enjoy a bit of time somewhere cool and quiet, and since we had just acquired the use of a cellar, I put it down there for a few years. I have had a Niepoort LBV that was aged too long post-bottling before, and I've also had one that was almost like drinking a young vintage port, so 8 years from harvest seemed to be a decent compromise.
It came up at first all animals and cooked blueberries, but this is not a wine to pop and pour....after a couple of hours it came to life with big roasted walnuts, dried cherries and more blueberry and prune sweetness, dusted in nutmeg. There's lovely presence to the palate, which still says 'young' wine with its forward fruit character, yet the warmth of walnut and fudge is just creeping in. This is a LBV in a different league to most!
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