Quinta do Crasto Superior, Douro, Portugal

克拉斯托超级红葡萄酒

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The 2020 Superior Tinto comes from their Douro Superior property, from Touriga Nacional, Touriga Franca, Tinta Roriz and some Sous?o grapes to give it acidity. It was a warm and ripe year, and the wine achieved 14% alcohol but avoided over-ripeness (the vineyard is north-facing), with 5.1 grams of acidity. It's clean and modern, with integrated oak. It's spicy and tasty, with a smoky twist in the finish after spending 12 months in French oak barrels. 99,986 bottles and some other formats produced. It was bottled in July 2023.

The 2009 TINTO “CRASTO SUPERIOR,” Crasto’s relatively new Douro Superior venture, is a dramatic and powerful wine this year – maybe even a bit too much. This lets it all hang out. Amazingly impressive at first taste, seeming very much like an upper level, big time wine, it did then seem to show its alcohol too much at times (listed at 14.5%). That said, it is otherwise gorgeously structured and bursting with flavor, deep and powerful, a surprisingly worthy competitor in some respects to Crasto’s much pricier wines. It is super charged in this vintage, not for the shy. As disjointed as it was, notwithstanding how impressive it sometimes seemed, I was not entirely convinced and I feel some need to be conservative here as it has something to prove in the cellar. For this modest price range, it’s for sure a lot of wine for the money. Put it away for a couple of years. If it comes together well, it will be one of the biggest and best bargains of the vintage. At worst, it is well worth what it costs. Drink now-2019. Crasto is one of the Douro’s most prominent estates, typically one of its leaders. With a beautiful Quinta and view – easier to get to by boat, more interesting to get to by car – it justly attracts a lot of attention. The releases this year, 2009s, have plenty to offer, but I was not entirely convinced by all of the upper level wines. Perhaps time will tell another story as they calm down and settle down.Importer: Broadbent Selections, San Francisco, Ca.; (415) 931-1725.

From Crasto’s new vineyards in the eastern Douro Superior, this is a hot country wine resulting in superrich, full-bodied character with a surprising richness. It is soft, the tannins comfortably embedded in the cushion of ample fruit——R.V.(2/1/2012)—— 89

The 2008 TINTO “CRASTO SUPERIOR” is a new (the 1st vintage, 2007, was not marketed in the USA due to its small debut quantity) Douro Superior version of Crasto’s regular (i.e, non-reserva) Tinto, a blend of Touriga Nacional, Touriga Franca, Tinta Roriz and Sousao. It is easily distinguished from the traditional Tinto by its fat, Burgundy bottle. Aged in oak for 12 months, Crasto is also using here, for the first time, some Sousao (from Quinta da Cabreira). Judging from this bottling, this may become a new sweet spot for value in Crasto’s lineup. This is rather charming and seems to one-up the regular Tinto. Initially fleshy, yet focused, this is aromatic, flavorful and penetrating, albeit without a lot of mid-palate concentration. It thins further with aeration. That said, it is beautifully constructed, a wine that has the backbone to hold awhile, yet the flavor and sex appeal to get your attention. It is a nice blend of qualities and very well done. There were approximately 30,000 produced. Production is expected to rise to about 100,000 bottles by the 2010 vintage. Drink now-2018. Importer: Broadbent Selections, San Francisco, Ca.; (415) 931-1725.