TN: 2003 Quinta do Crasto Reserva Old Vines Douro

[Mahmoud Ali]

2003 Quinto do Crasto Reserva Old Vines(14.5%)

I just bought a few bottles of the 2014 vintage of the Reserva and, since it is only four years old, couldn't resist putting it away for a bit. However I made it a point to pull out an older vintage. Since I had a few of then out came the 2003 Reserva.

It was decanted about 15 minutes before dinner with the use of a glass funnel aerator. We had it with baked chaicken, onions, and mushrooms on rice together with Grace Kelly and Cary Grant in To Catch A Thief. The wine exuded a lightly perfumed nose of dark cherry fruit and some dried herbs, with an aromatic lift that reflected the higher alcohol but wasn't terribly pronounced. The palate was medium-bodied, fleshy at first with sweet fruit, then taking on a savoury, dry, herb and mineral aspect, finishing with gentle tannins that produced a mouth watering savouriness that lingers. This wine has turned the corner, a far cry from the last bottle about five years ago when it was a bit hot with clumsy, stewy fruit.

I would just as readily drink another bottle of this as watch Grace Kelly and Cary Grant; understated, graceful, and elegant.

Cheers ............... Mahmoud.