For The Love Of Port

Initially decanted 3 hours and consumed over two more. Initially this showed a good amount of vanilla oak and black fruit on the nose. It immediately overtakes the mouth with loganberries, minerality, moderate tannins showing up mid palate, plenty of acidity keeping it fresh and lively, and some prominent oak. I was getting worried about how much oak was showing on this, then about 4 hours in it quickly integrated and was less noticable. I am a little concerned if the oak will outlive the fruit in years to come. As at this stage it should not show so prominate for so long. That aside, decant this at least 4 or more hours for it to show its best. And at this point it does drink amazingly well. Few producers have mastered this single grape variety as Crasto has.
94 Points

Hmmmm, bummer about the oak --- glad it yielded enough to enjoy the bottle, but it does give some reason for concern. Thanks for this note, Andy.

Andy Velebil wrote:Few producers have mastered this single grape variety as Crasto has.

I thought the Quinta do Vallado bottling was really smart though I can't recall if it was the '08 or '09 vintage that I had.

Mahmoud.