Bom Dia, good day,
We are the Sauter family and want to share our story with you here. It is important for us to share our “career” as a family with you so that you can understand why we opened this wine shop.
In May 1990, my husband and I moved to Portugal for professional reasons. To be precise, in the beautiful town of Vila Nova de Gaia, on the Rio Douro, near Porto.
We quickly got to know and love the people, the language, the culinary delicacies, including Portuguese wine.
We met the Niepoort family in 1992 when our children were born. This family connection soon developed into a beautiful friendship and with it a special love for the “wine from the Douro Valley” (vinho do Douro) and of course port wine. The Niepoort family is now producing port wine in the 6th generation. Dirk has been producing table wines since 1991, when he took over management and acquired the Quinta de Napoles and the Quinta de Carril. Through countless trips to the quintas (wineries) we have gained valuable insights into the world of port wines and table wines.
During this time we learned a lot about the different grape varieties of the Douro, the special locations and the unique production of the delicious grape juice. We were present at the grape harvest several times and accompanied the production from the beginning.
Over the many years we lived in Portugal, we visited other wineries in other growing regions of Portugal. Minho, Dão, Bairrada, Alentejo and the Algarve. Through this we got to know many other wines, other grape varieties and their characteristics. We organized countless wine tastings with good and interested friends. That's why we compared growing regions, different grape varieties, different vintages and other wineries and producers.
Because we still had family in Germany, we made many trips to Germany by car. The trips were not just “journeys” but also adventure trips. We visited various cities, attractions and wineries in Spain and France. The Spanish wines were closest to the Portuguese wines and impressed us.
Back to Germany
In 2007, after 17 years in Portugal, we moved back to Germany with our 3 children, 2 cats and a suitcase of wonderful memories. We also took with us our great passion for Portuguese wines and a variety of culinary delicacies. But fortunately, there were not only memories in the luggage, there were also one or two delicacies in the moving van. The topic has always accompanied us in Germany over the last 14 years. We attended some wine tastings with friends and interested wine drinkers and our children, who have now grown up, also discovered the world of wine for themselves.
Daniel and Marco, Dirk Niepoort's sons, joined the family business after many years abroad. They embody the same passion for wine as their father.
Our family has never lost contact with our friends and on numerous trips to our beloved Portugal, a stay at the Quinta de Napoles in the Douro was a must.
Niepoorts have always had a great fondness for wines from the Moselle. The mineral, delicately fruity Rieslings grow on steep slopes that are very reminiscent of the Douro.
So Dirk and one of his sons began producing elegant, long-lasting wines on the steep slopes of the Moselle.
We also got to know Mosel wine in the 1990s and enjoyed it very much.
Back in Germany, of course, the trips to the Moselle couldn't be missed.
Our enthusiasm for the good wine has and always had a high priority and thus a big dream of my husband and I is coming true to make the highly valued port wine and our favorite wines known in Germany.
We would like to convince you with regular and varied blog entries and very personal tips :-)
