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2006 Quinta do Crasto Reserva Old Vines

Posted: 17:29 Sun 13 Jun 2010
by Andy Velebil
2006 Quinta do Crasto Douro Reserva Old Vines

I had opened a 2005 Alcina Syrah that was, well, lets just say one of the worst wines I've had in a long time. So after a major disappointment I opened the cellar and this bottle was staring me in the eye, just screaming to be opened. Consumed over several hours, this initially started with a lot of black currants, vanilla, and fair amount of tannins. About 30 minutes later the fruit really closed up, it got very dusty, and leaned out. Then about one hour later that fruit came back out to play and this was opened for business. I really enjoyed the balance of subtle dark fruit, dusty tannins, a dash of tar, and just a hint of spice on the full finish. More restrained than some other vintages of this wine allowing a more classic Douro wine profile to come through. It was also very interesting to see this go through several stages over the course of drinking it. I would either recommend decanting for at least two hours (or more) before drinking or leaving this in the cellar for another year or two.
91 points
6/7/10