2012 Quinta do Crasto Reserva Vinhas Velhas

The 2012 Reserva Old Vines, Crasto's familiar brand, is easily the best intersection of price and quality in Crasto's 2012s, although that is frequently true. It comes awfully close to being the best wine, too. It is a very fine performance in this restrained year. It was aged for 18 months in barriques (85% French). With more depth and persistence than any of the other bottlings Crasto submitted this issue, excepting only the Vinha da Ponte, it shows nice depth for a 2012, fine structure with persistence and tension on the finish and that crisp, invigorating air that Crasto's 2012s display. It is a creature of the vintage--but a very pretty creature it is. It is not as lush as some entrants in this brand or as deep, but few have had this lively feel to them. It is pretty delicious, too. It will be approachable young, but give it a couple of years if you can. It should also age well, given its acidity and real backbone. It is perhaps noteworthy that Crasto cut out three southern-facing vineyards from the blend this year, and also added in most of the fruit that would otherwise go to Maria Teresa, another of its specialty wines. There were 93,000 bottles produced.