Deep tasting of Casa Ferreirinha and Quinta do Crasto Ports and Wines

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Andy Velebil
Quinta do Vesuvio 1994
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Joined: 22:16 Mon 25 Jun 2007
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Deep tasting of Casa Ferreirinha and Quinta do Crasto Ports and Wines

Post by Andy Velebil »

On May 25, 2017 I was invited to a tasting with Miguel Roquette, owner of Quinta do Crasto, and Filipe da Mota Neves, Fine Wines Manager for Sogrape. Most wines were splash decanted and the later tasted ones (listed in order of tasting below) had more air time. This was a pretty quick tasting so these notes are just impressions with no scores. I'll break it down into a couple parts, so here's the first one. More wines and Ports will be in the next installment.

2015 Casa Ferreirinha Planalto Reserva Branco Douro
Crisp with good depth, citrus, hints of tropical fruits, passion fruit, solid finish. Year in and year out a good white.

2015 Crasto Branco Douro
Tart at first that quickly left by the third sip, medium bodied and a touch tight on opening, as it opens it gained in body and complexity with a slight waxy-ness and a long finish. This could age nicely in the mid-term.

2015 Crasto Superior Branco Douro
6 months of oak, clean fresh rose nose, awesome acidity, citrus, spices, very long finish. A solid white from Crasto.

2013 Crasto Superior Branco Douro
1st vintage of this wine, 6 months French oak with heavy toasted ends (subsequent vintages don’t have this). Deeper richer nose and fatter bodied with more oak still present. But it did have more depth and an amazing long finish. Still drinking great bit the excessive oak ends do leave their mark compared to newer vintages.

2014 Casa Ferreirinha Vinha Grande Rose Douro
Light, decent acid, nice body. A good QPR for those warm summer days.

2015 Casa Ferreirinha Papa Figos Douro
This is mostly Quinta da Leda fruit. Slight chemical nose at first, dusty light bodied palate and tannic on the finish. I’ve had this before and even though it’s not an expensive wine it needs a little decanting and this suffered a little without it.

2014 Casa Ferreirinha Vinha Grande Douro
1960 was the first release! Nose of plums. Well structured body with tannins, tar, and a moderately long finish. This uses old Barca Velha barrels to age in.

2014 Crasto Superior Douro
Dark fruit, young oak, this was tight and showing medium tannins. I’ve had this before as well and it wasn’t showing it’s best, I suspect a lack of decant.

2013 Crasto Superior Douro
Lighter fruit than 2014, more spices and cracked pepper, less depth but better symmetry than 2014 at the moment. I like this better. 70% used oak for one year.

2012 Crasto Superior Douro
More tar and spices than 2013. Palate had good texture and body but the finish drops a little. I suspect this is at prime now.

2009 Crasto Superior Douro
Well integrated, oakier than the others, bigger fruit but softer bodied.

2014 Casa Ferreirinha Callabriga Douro
The first tasting of it in the States. Uses a little new American oak, tannins well placed, medium bodied with spices and no protruding oak. Well made daily drinker.

2014 Casa Ferreirinha Quinta da Leda Douro
Touch of youthful oak, solid acid and typical young tannins, plenty of fruit that isn’t over ripe, very well made but still very young and needs a long decant or years in the cellar. Loved the spices on the long finish.

2011 Casa Ferreirinha Quinta da Leda Douro
Wow loved the spices that jumped out, great body, acid, and tannin backbones and of course the fruit too. A super long finish rounded out a super delicious wine. This will age wonderfully for many years.

2008 Casa Ferreirinha Quinta da Leda Douro
Not as intense at first as the 2011, though it has more tar and slightly softer tannins, less heat, and an incredibly long finish. This really opened in the glass and overtook the 2011 by a couple steps, as hard as that is to convey, and ended up being my favorite of the three right now. My god, this rocked!

2014 Quinta do Crasto Reserva Old Vines Douro
Typical young oak, tannic but well balanced with fruit and plums, nice minerality and a long finish. Year in and year out this wine is consistently great.

2013 Quinta do Crasto Reserva Old Vines Douro
Less intense fruit than 2014 but better spices, less oak and a longer finish. Right now I like this vintage a touch better than 2014…time will tell if that holds.

2012 Quinta do Crasto Reserva Old Vines Douro
Oakiest of all three, very tannic with medium intensity fruit, tar, pencil lead, and some vanilla. This seemed to be very closed from previous experiences with it.
Andy Velebil
Quinta do Vesuvio 1994
Posts: 3028
Joined: 22:16 Mon 25 Jun 2007
Location: Los Angeles, Ca USA
Contact:

Re: Deep tasting of Casa Ferreirinha and Quinta do Crasto Ports and Wines

Post by Andy Velebil »

Part two....

2014 Quinta do Crasto Tinta Roriz Douro
Supre fresh nose. Touch of oak, moderate tannins, lots of complexity and floral elements on the very long finish. Still really young but this was amazing and my favorite of the four Tinta Roriz’ in this tasting.

2013 Quinta do Crasto Tinta Roriz Douro
Very floral nose, more spices than the 2014 but also more oak showing, vanilla and also medium tannins. I’ve only had this once before and it showed better. Perhaps in a phase or just really tight in this showing.

2012 Quinta do Crasto Tinta Roriz Douro

Tar and way more oak showing than any of the other three. The oak really overshadowed the fruit in this one, though the fruit was super closed which didn’t help. I’ve had this a few times before and they showed much better fruit structure then. That said, this did have a really nice touch of minerality and freshness. Either give this an 8 hour decant or leave it in the cellar for a few more years.

2011 Quinta do Crasto Tinta Roriz Douro
Ripe nose and fruit, which the fruit showed the darkest and most dense of the four. Very different in style from the others and the vintage really shows in this one.


Ferreira 10 Year Old Tawny – Quinta do Porto

Good complexity for a 10 year old, no overt heat which often happens in 10 year old tawnys, and not overtly sweet. A wonderful 10 year tawny and why this still is among the top in it’s class with Port lovers.

Ferreira 20 Year Old Tawny – Duque de Braganca
Honey, dried nuts, dried fruit, caramel, toffee all wrapped up in a complex body and long finish. One of my favorite 20 year tawny’s still to this day. Just love this!

1997 Quinta do Crasto Colheita Port
I’ve watched this in barrel for many years, bugging Miguel as to when it would be bottled. Finally it’s here! They bottled about 70% of what they had, holding the rest back. I’ve been lucky to have had this once before and this was just as good as that bottle some months ago. Rhubarb, dried cherries on the nose. Acid driven tawny, dried strawberries, still some slight tannins, dried fruit that shows a more “Portuguese” style of tawny and a long long finish. I’d really love to try a sample of what’s left in barrel in another 10 years to see how it ages. Just lovely!

2011 Quinta do Crasto LBV Port
Esteva still on the nose which I didn’t expect given it’s age. Flowers and a nice balance of fruit, acidity and tannins which end in a long finish. A really good LBV that has good aging potential in the medium-long term.

2011 Quinta do Crasto Vintage Port
Darker fruit nose than the LBV, shows much hotter than the LBV, the fruit is much tighter than the last time I had this a few years ago which is no surprise. This appears to be starting it’s poop down phase most VP go through at this age. Good potential but I’d leave in the cellar for about 4-5 years before coming back to it…as I’d recommend with most 2011 VP’s.

2011 Ferreira Vintage Port
Dark rich nose, chocolate, mocha on a more dry style of VP. Very solid complexity and a good long finish. This doesn’t appear to have started that closed phase and showed really well. A very nice VP for sure.
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