Quinta do Crasto is one of the largest dry wine producers in Portugal. Fortunately, they are also one of the best. Situated in the Douro valley, where grapes for the famous port wines are grown, Quinta do Crasto has a massive range of wines extending from $20 bottlings produced at 450 000 bottles to single vineyard and single varietal bottlings coming in at a mere few thousand bottles. These wines are also hard to find in a lot of the United States, but fortunately here in BC the agency Seacove has a good relationship with Crasto and brings in their entire line of wines. These are the sort of wines to cut your teeth with in the land of dry Portuguese reds as they straddle the line between a modern international style and a more terroir driven approach. I’ve also tasted through almost their entire line of wines and am impressed with the distinctive characteristics of each of the high end bottlings.
At this summer’s Wine Blogger’s Conference the Portuguese wine growers association (or something like that) put on a tasting of Portuguese wines. This was exciting to a lot of bloggers because many had not tasted wines from Portugal at all before. However, we are lucky in the BC market in that we have a few excellent options, Crasto being one of them. And, I think the offerings from Crasto (and Niepoort for that matter) far outclass anything that was being poured at the event down in Sonoma this summer. For all you U.S. readers, there is a big world of portuguese wine that has yet to flow into the states.
However, all that said, I think there may be a bit of over-hype and over-excitement about Portuguese dry wines right now. Yes they are well made and usually good value, but not that many of them are truly distinctive. Other than a small handful of 5-10 top producers, there isn’t that much exciting going on, at least for me. I remain to be persuaded otherwise though, and bottles like this one promise that the region has incredible potential.
Tinta Roriz is another name for Tempranillo. On the nose of this wine I got bacon fat, plum, chocolate, smoke, and crushed dark berries. The palate was reminiscent of Ribera del Duero wines from Spain with smoke, bacon, chocolate, plume, black cherry and a soft licorice lacing. This isn’t surprising given that the Douro Valley is an extension of the same river that flows through Ribera in Spain. I am consistently impressed with how smooth and integrated Quinta do Crasto’s wines are, and this is no exception. And, while I wouldn’t necessarily say that this wine is elegant, I would call it velvety and soft with a very extended mouthfeel. Very distinctly tempranillo, this also brings in the richness and savory qualities of a really good syrah. Definitely worth picking up if you enjoy bigger old world wines a la Ribera del Duero.
Excellent
$70 at BCLDB
Muga is a fairly traditional Spanish bodega from Rioja dating from 1932. Interestingly, they actually have a coopery on site that produces 1500 barrels a year from French and American oak. The Muga vineyards are located in the Obarenes mountains, on a series of terraced plots. The soils are mainly clay and calcareous, and are planted with Tempranillo, Garnacha and Mazuelo for the reds, and Malvasia and Viura for the whites. Interestingly, the white wines are fermented in new oak barrels, which are then used for aging the reds in subsequent vintages, before being discarded at about ten years of age.
A good old Rioja red can have the structure of a aged Bordeaux and the elegance of a Burgundy Pinot Noir, and all usually for a fraction of the price. However, there is also a divide in Rioja right now between traditionalists (of which few remain) and the modernists, making a bigger and more extracted style of wine. Some of the traditionalists, like La Rioja Alta, make good wine, but can also make wine that has too much wood on it, given the long aging traditions. As much as I love the secondary flavours that wood and bottle age impart, I still want my wine to have fruit. That’s where Miguel Merino enters the picture.
Infanticide – that’s what opening this bottle turned out to be. Still massively tannic and dense and awaiting full expression this Ribera del Duero Tempranillo was impressive but tight lipped. One of Alejandro Fernandez’ consistently good Spanish wine projects, Tinto Pesquera has steadily grown into a solid producer of thick and textural wines that have been garnering 90+ reviews from the big mags for several years now. And, while prices have increased somewhat, they have remained entirely reasonable, which is a nice change from the price gouging that goes on with many of the highly rated wines.
