Friends in town

For Discussion of Table Wines from all regions of Portugal

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Roy Hersh
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Friends in town

Post by Roy Hersh »

A couple that I've known for ages is coming to town from PA to visit their kids who live here nowadays. Going to a great local restaurant in Bellevue that fortunately only has $15 corkage. He is bringing a nice Bordeaux. At 3:00 this afternoon, I decanted a 2004 Quinta do Crasto Vinha da Ponte for dinner this evening and likely won't get to it until about 8:30, so not enough decanting but should hopefully open up a bit in the glass. Report back tomorrow on this one.
Ambition driven by passion, rather than money, is as strong an elixir as is Port. http://www.fortheloveofport.com
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Andy Velebil
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Re: Friends in town

Post by Andy Velebil »

Roy Hersh wrote:At 3:00 this afternoon, I decanted a 2004 Quinta do Crasto Vinha da Ponte for dinner this evening and likely won't get to it until about 8:30, so not enough decanting but should hopefully open up a bit in the glass. Report back tomorrow on this one.
Curious as to how this shows. The past couple bottles of this I've opened in the past year and a half or so have been very tight. As if it's gone into a bit of a closed up phase.
Andy Velebil Good wine is a good familiar creature if it be well used. William Shakespeare http://www.fortheloveofport.com
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David Spriggs
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Re: Friends in town

Post by David Spriggs »

Same here. Pretty closed for me too.
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Roy Hersh
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Re: Friends in town

Post by Roy Hersh »

I think it is a CA thing. This was actually a beautiful showing and fortunately as soon as we arrived in the restaurant we put this back in decanter and it had another hour+ of aeration. This was in some serious young Bordeaux company up against a bottle of 1995 Lafleur Petrus, and after a fantastic bottle of Jordan Chardonnay. The 2004 VdP held its own though. Open for business in my opinion and paired with seared foie gras and a generous portion of rare Wagyu sirloin, the Crasto has seemingly lost some of its baby fat (finally!) and the oak seemed better integrated than usual. Our friends who have spent the 2010 Fortification Tour (I think David was there that year too? ... Jim and Elaine), really loved this wine which I was pleased about, as they typically love Bdx and Burg for the most part. A very solid showing overall. 95 points and this specific bottling has an incredibly long life ahead of it. I keep drinking them, but need to put some aside. I only have about 15 left of nearly four six packs originally. I buy 'em every chance I get when a decent deal comes along. Still one of my all-time favorite DOC wines.
Ambition driven by passion, rather than money, is as strong an elixir as is Port. http://www.fortheloveofport.com
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