Catching up on WTN: Quinta do Crasto, spoofulated Portuguese

Douro Red 2004
A warm scent of red berries, some tobacco, manages to be both confected and savoury at the same time The palate is juicy. Rather simple and spoofulated.

Douro Reserva Old Vines 2003
Ouch! The wine hit me on the nose with a plank of wood! Some savoury hints going on underneath the Amazon. The palate is quite a bit better: oaky certainly, but not so badly spoofulated as the scent, with fine structure from both tannins and acids and fair length. But why, oh why must a whole forest be used?

Touriga Nacional 2003
Oak, oak, oak, oak, oak. Anything else? Well, a bit of vanilla and chocolate (i.e. oak derived scents!). Well, once again the palate surprises by being savoury, dry and not too badly over-oaked. How is it that these wines so mololithically oaky on the nose, yet relatively fine on the palate?

Vinha Maria Teresa 2003
A very pointy wine, having received 95p from some illustrious pointgiver or other - I have no idea which. It is made from c 90 YO vines, and the vines are so old that it isn't even known what grapes they are. The nose, though certainly oaky, isn't as overdone as the previous wines. It is a big wine, more fruit forward than savoury, but with enough tanginess to keep up my interest. The palate is big, extracted, and just what the pointgivers want, but with decent amounts earth, tobacco and general savouryness. If you like the pointy wines, you won't be disappointed and even I was relatively impressed. Not enough to purchase a bottle, though, even if it were cheaper.

Q do Crasto has received lots of applause for their table wines. But I think their ports were more successful - but this is just me speaking as an oakophobe.

LBV 1999 (Unfiltered)
A very savoury scent of tobacco and plums. The palate was very sweet, thick, extracted, but acidic and approachably tannic - also a little fiery (no idea if this was decanted or not - a problem with such tastings always). Very good, if a touch simple, but the balance and sheer fun of the wine make up for that amply.

VP 2003
Dark colour. Nose is inky and prominently floral with a touch of tobacco, but not as strongly as in the LBV. The palate was very sweet, very concentrated, very intense, very fiery (obviously not decanted long enough), but very good.

Aaaagh the Crasto! Some great wines from this producer out there.
I believe that at a recent `03 VP tasting here in town, the Crasto was near the top.

LBV 1999 (Unfiltered)
A very savoury scent of tobacco and plums. The palate was very sweet, thick, extracted, but acidic and approachably tannic - also a little fiery (no idea if this was decanted or not - a problem with such tastings always). Very good, if a touch simple, but the balance and sheer fun of the wine make up for that amply.

Otto,

I loved this LBV 1999. I thought it had a great combination of rich savoury tastes I associate with port and some nice fresh fruit that I associate with new wine. I really liked the first bottle and I have one bottle left. Do you think this one will age well? I thought it would improve with age if I can keep my hands off it.

Tom Noland

Otto,

I loved this LBV 1999. I thought it had a great combination of rich savoury tastes I associate with port and some nice fresh fruit that I associate with new wine. I really liked the first bottle and I have one bottle left. Do you think this one will age well? I thought it would improve with age if I can keep my hands off it.

Tom Noland

As it is unfiltered and rather young, I'm sure it will improve for a few years. But with most LBVs I just don't see a reason to wait - I drink them for freshness and vibrancy and age my VPs instead. Mostly this is because I have the same problem as you: they are so nice that I can't keep my hands off them

Otto

I had the 2003 Crasto old vines Reserve and I have to say that the oak although certainly present was not overwhelming on the nose or the palate Otto. This is going to be a fine wine and just needs time, IMO. 60 year old vines, low yields, decadent fruit with great concentration and a structural integrity that will keep this rocking for years.

I had the 2003 Crasto old vines Reserve and I have to say that the oak although certainly present was not overwhelming on the nose or the palate Otto. This is going to be a fine wine and just needs time, IMO. 60 year old vines, low yields, decadent fruit with great concentration and a structural integrity that will keep this rocking for years.

Roy, I am oversensitive to oak, I admit that. It just obliterates for me all nuance in a wine - even when according to most it is not overwhelming I am unable to smell or taste past it. I don't doubt that these will be rocking for years, but I just don't appreciate decadent fruit or great concentration. I want light and elegant wines which are intense due to their acidity and minerality. These weren't. De gustibus non est disputandum.

I don't get all that much oak from the Reserva, either. But it reminds me so much of Port (the grapes are reputed to be all Port grapes) that I find evaluating this table wine daunting. My first impression is that the sweeness overwhelms the acid, leaving the wine out of balance and tasting like an unfortified version of Port, but then I suppose the wine is so unusual it will take some getting used to. I'll give it another try.

The VP is a winner, no doubt about that.