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2006 Quinta do Crasto Reserva Old Vine Douro

Posted: 04:26 Fri 08 Jun 2018
by Andy Velebil
Lets address the elephant in the room first. This is a vintage that many critics panned as being not good. But what many of them forget is the Douro is a big place with tons of micro climates. So even in the tough years someone almost always makes a good wine. Decanted 3 hours, this still has fresh berries, solid acidity, light tannins in the background - mostly showing up on the finish, tar, and now the oak has fully integrated and isn't noticeable anymore. That said, this doesn't possess quite the complexity or long finish as some of the Reserva's from top vintages. But you'd be hard pressed to guess blind this was a 12 year old wine from an off-vintage since it shows much younger overall. As for drinking window...while it's still on the youthful side that slight lack of complexity and depth will affect it's aging and I think it's drinking at it's best right now and should hold here for a few more years before the secondary stages kick in enough to offset that slight lack of overall complexity and depth I mentioned. As a side, I've consumed over two cases of this since its release.
91 Points