WTN: 2004 Quinta do Crasto Reserva Vinhas Velhas

2004 Quinta do Crasto, Reserva Vinhas Velhas 14,5%

Dark dense rubi colour. Explosive nose of red fruits, tobacco, black pepper, a hint of vanilla cream and a good and elegant flowers with thyme nose . In the mouth has a nice acidity! a velvet tannins and a integrate wood. I like a lot the flowers nose, probably the touriga nacional, but after reading the web site (now totally dominate by the high notes of Parker...) I realise that is made from 70 years old wines with something around 30 varietals... so is a old fruit salad in a good way and quite impossible nonsense to identify a varietal characteristic.
Knowing that I don't like to feel the alcohol in my nose I just low down a little the temperature... nothing strong because this is impossible here in the this very hot summer, and this really makes difference to me, the aromas becomes more clear and the mouth feel less hot, so is my suggestion for this wine. Was a really nice surprise the well balance mouth feel and the big fruit not jammy with good wood. A middle way that I'm happy to taste.

Great to see a Crasto TN. Have various vintages in the cellar, I am generally in no hurry to open!! Think your `04 TN is nicely representative.

Thanks for the note on this: I have some and am wondering if I should keep or drink (leaning towards the former). Yeah, the old vines vineyards in the Douro often have a field blend - there may be some grapes in there which are going extinct from lack of new plantings.

I really don't now when is better to open, just can say that is a strong and structured wine and I suppose that just can be better and well integrate with time.
I still have the 2005 and I will wait a Little to open, not so much, because I don't have a climate cellar... I've being reading and note that 2004 is in a good primary shape, 2005 need more for sure, is quite austere and the best recommendation for a simple magazine from here is the 2001 vintage.
Someone now what is the main varietals for this wine?
Bob, do you now if this are very different from year to year?

Regards.

Marcelo, I am not sure if the varietals change that much. Here is a quote from the website.

wine from parcels of old, low yielding vines with up to 30 different grape varieties are kept back for ageing in French and American oak barrels for up to 18 months. A high proportion of the grapes used in the blend are foot trodden in lagares. The wine may be drunk soon after its release but has the depth and concentration to develop in bottle over the long term. It is a complex, powerful wine with great intensity and a richly textured palate. It is always bottled without any fining or filtration.

I would guess the predominate varieties are Touriga Nacional, Franca and probably Tinta Roriz, with the balance containing the usual supporting cast grapes like the Tintas Amarela, Cao, Barroca and lesser amounts of various oddities. Do you know that Dirk Niepoort does not think much of Touriga Nacional for Douro table wines? A view is obviously not shared by those at Crasto (one of their top wines is a pure TN) or many others.

... I imagine that they have no idea about what kind of grapes they have hehe!... to me is impossible to list 30 varietals of Portuguese grapes... the web site is generic about that, and if this is the charm about this old wines maybe it's nice to face this unknown information.
Joe, when i mention the flower/thyme nose I remember a lot of the Termeão passaro branco, a manly TN and I love this characteristic! is refreshing for this potent kind of wine!

[Jenise]

Marcelo, I only own the 05 so no experience from my cellar, but my Canadian friends have generously opened a number of older bottles of this wine for me over the last few years and I can assure you that they reward cellaring. Also, even though it is an "old fruit salad" (great term!), it's distinctive--I've actually been able to guess it in blind tastings.

Wow, I really admire that!!! it's distinctive for sure, but I am far, far away to identify this in a blind taste... and is no usuall drink this old salad fruit! A special wine for sure!

One more "newbie" question: when I fist smell,came in my mind a new world style... is difficult to describe, but the high alcohol with hints of wood, remember me that. And after little time this was becoming more complex, rich and the mouth complete to distinguish that (manly the acidity). But, am I crazy? or this is a more modern nice style?

Gross generalizations, but Touriga Nacional tends to lend structure, power, deep fruits with some herbal elements while Franca is said to give aroma and softer fruit but still have good structure. Roriz is the same grape as Tempranillo in Spain, so you may have some ideas about how that could contribute (the top sites in the Douro are schist). What is important is the result, but the Portuguese grape varieties are fascinating.

We just arrived in the Douro today after two terrific days in Bairrada. We'll be visiting Crasto on Friday morning, but I haven't enjoyed the 03 and 04 Reservas as much as I did the 01 in its day. Not sure if they changed or I changed, but a 00 Vinha da Ponte tried recently was still splendid.

I suspect the Douro as a whole has become increasingly modern since 2000, using riper grapes and more new wood, possibly in search of higher scores. Could be just sibling rivalry, but elsewhere in Portugal (Lisbon, Madeira and Bairrada) people think that Douro and Alentejo are going for riper styles at the cost of acidifying. Will try to find out what's going on at Niepoort tomorrow, Poeira on Thursday and Crasto on Friday. The tide could be changing under the influence of natural wine makers in Burgundy, who everybody, everywhere, seems to respect (certainly much more than Loire). Niepoort, for example, reportedly stopped innoculating starting in 2005.

Oswaldo, maybe I am missing something but are you going to post your WineDisorder thread here?

Oswaldo, maybe I am missing something but are you going to post your WineDisorder thread here?

For sure, I have been posting text there as a trial balloon every few days, but need to add photographs and convert to pdf when I get home on Monday. Will then post the entire report here.

I see you received the usual newbie welcome on Disorder!!! I don`t think we use that word here.

I see you received the usual newbie welcome on Disorder!!! I don`t think we use that word here.

It was meant affectionately!