2004 Quinta do Crasto Douro Riserva Old Vines

I think Portuguese wine is really underrated and generally under the radar. Douro's tend to be big and intense port-like dry red wines that can often be a great value. The BC LDB doesn't carry that much of the higher end stuff so it was a nice treat to find this bottle at the Thurlow and Alberni location. The best way I can describe this is really intense and rich chocolatey and leathery flavours that had a good measure of dark berry fruit. However, the wine wasn't jammy and I wouldn't describe the fruit as 'fresh', but maybe more as 'withered'. This was a great wine for the price and pretty much typifies the kind of wine making I love. On another note, I have a 2003 sitting around and I think this wine could be pretty interesting with a little age.

Excellent
$35 at BCLDB