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More wines available from Quinta Do Crasto
750ml
Bottle:
$52.94
Rated 93 - An especially dark and dense Colheita Tawny, this has great richness and a fine balance between the fruit...
750ml
Bottle:
$32.63
Lemon in colour, with light golden hues. Expressive on the nose, with citrus aromas, delicate floral notes and a...
750ml
Bottle:
$49.94
Rated 93 - A creamy, harmonious red, with a generous range of ripe black plum, black currant, dried mint and dried...
750ml
Bottle:
$23.94
$24.50
Rated 91 - This is opening up already, with a hint of dark earth infusing the core of plum cake and blackberry...
More Details
Winery
Quinta Do Crasto
Vintage: 2008
2008 saw very high yields across wineries in much of the southern hemisphere, as a result of highly favorable climatic conditions. Although in many areas, these high yields brought with them something of a drop in overall quality, this could not be said for South Australia's wines, which were reportedly excellent. Indeed, the 2008 Shiraz harvest in South Australia is said to be one of the most successful in recent decades, and western Australia's Chardonnays are set to be ones to watch out for. New Zealand's Pinot Noir harvest was also very good, with wineries in Martinborough reportedly very excited about this particular grape and the characteristics it revealed this year.
Pinot Noir also grew very well in the United States, and was probably the most successful grape varietal to come out of California in 2008, with Sonoma Coast and Anderson Valley delivering fantastic results from this grape. Elsewhere in United States, Washington State and Oregon had highly successful harvests in 2008 despite some early worries about frost.
However, it was France who had the best of the weather and growing conditions in 2008, and this year was one of the great vintages for Champagne, the Médoc in Bordeaux, Languedoc-Roussillon and Provence, with Pinot Noir, Cabernet Sauvignon and Chardonnay grapes leading the way. Italy, too, shared many of these ideal conditions, with the wineries in Tuscany claiming that their Chianti Classicos of 2008 will be ones to collect, and Piedmont's Barberesco and Barolo wines will be recognized as amongst the finest of the past decade.
Region: Porto
The city and region of Porto in Portugal has long been regarded as one of the most important wine producing areas on earth, and home to many of the world's most distinctive and characterful wines and fortified wines. So important was it, in the 18th century, it became part of the third ever protected wine region, following one in Hungary, and one in Italy. The wineries of Porto have generations of experience and expertise when it comes to working their land, and the fertile valley sides in the Douro region where Porto is found offers plenty of opportunities for growing a wide range of grape varietals. Most commonly, Porto wineries cultivate Tinta Barroca, Tinta Cão, Tempranillo, Touriga Francesa, and Touriga Nacional grapes, as these are the primary varietals used in the production of Porto's famous Port wines.
Country: Portugal
Portugal has been an important center for wine production ever since the Phoenicians and Carthaginians discovered that the many native grape varietals that grow in the country could be cultivated for making excellent wines. After all, Portugal has something of an ideal wine producing climate and terrain; lush green valleys, dry, rocky mountainsides and extremely fertile soil helped by long, hot summers and Atlantic winds. Today, such a climate and range of terroir produces an impressive variety of wines, with the best wines said to be coming out of the Douro region, the Alentejo and the Colares region near Lisbon. Portugal has an appellation system two hundred years older than France's, and much effort is made by regulating bodies to ensure that the quality of the country's produce remains high, and the wines remain representative of the regions they are grown in.