Luxury cuvées from the Douro? Crasto Honore Red
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- David Spriggs
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Luxury cuvées from the Douro? Crasto Honore Red
The new 2015 Quinta do Crasto Honore Douro Red is available in the UK and the asking price is... £650 ($850) per magnum. Only available in magnum and made from a blend of Maria Teresa and Ponte. Good for them if they can get that money. My concern is: does this harm Maria Teresa and Ponte... and the Old Vine Reserva going forward? A similar thing happened in Chateauneuf du Pape. "Luxury Cuvées" were produced from the best lots and IMHO diminished the quality of the basic wines. Is the same thing going to happen to Crasto and do you see this as a trend?
- Glenn E.
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Re: Luxury cuvées from the Douro? Crasto Honore Red
It can't help, and not just due to the quality of the now-lower-tier wines. Because those wines are now perceived as lower tier as well, which will lessen their appeal and likely affect their price.
The winemakers can claim that it doesn't hurt the blend of the lessened wines all they want, but I think Cockburn proved that false forever in 1977 by "adding back" the VP blend to their Special Reserve, making it very obvious that "removing" the best grapes (the VP) does, in fact, impact the quality of the remaining (the Special Reserve) blend.
Crasto also proves this in the years that they do not produce either Ponte or Maria Teresa and instead blend those grapes into the Old Vines Reserva.
The winemakers can claim that it doesn't hurt the blend of the lessened wines all they want, but I think Cockburn proved that false forever in 1977 by "adding back" the VP blend to their Special Reserve, making it very obvious that "removing" the best grapes (the VP) does, in fact, impact the quality of the remaining (the Special Reserve) blend.
Crasto also proves this in the years that they do not produce either Ponte or Maria Teresa and instead blend those grapes into the Old Vines Reserva.
Glenn Elliott
- David Spriggs
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Re: Luxury cuvées from the Douro? Crasto Honore Red
OK. I'll put this out there. I consider the 2015 Crasto Old Vines Reserva to be the best edition of that wine that they have made (so far). Given that, it doesn't appear that the Reserva has suffered from the creation of a high end Douro. But I will add that I have not tasted the 2015 Ponte or Maria Teresa, so maybe those did take a hit by creating this luxury cuvee.
- Glenn E.
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Re: Luxury cuvées from the Douro? Crasto Honore Red
It's all relative, though. It might very well be the best-ever edition of the OVR, but it would have been even better if they hadn't removed the best grapes to make MT, VdP, and Honore.
Glenn Elliott
Re: Luxury cuvées from the Douro? Crasto Honore Red
All speculation I'm afraid. I've had the 2015's en masse last year and there was no downfall in quality. If anything it just goes to prove how great 2015 really was as a harvest, overall. Having been up atop Ponte again last year, there are more than enough grapes and along with MT, they have plenty of high quality juice to support a super Cuvee at that price to test the waters and see if they vie with Barca Velha and other treasures in the Douro. While I think the jury is out on that, so far, when you guys do try the 2015's at all levels, it will be immediately apparent how good the Tinto blends are. I only had a short pour of the '15 OVR, but like it every bit as much as 2011, which was the best until now, imo. I see no reason why their other wines will decrease, these guys know what they are doing and along with Tomas, Manuel and their consulting oenologist, they have a deep understanding of what is in their vineyards.
One question remains, how is this new "luxury Cuvee" different from their $40 OVR at many multiples of that price? I am assuming (wrongly?) it has more to do with oak treatment, nonetheless, nothing they are doing in vineyards or in winemaking seriously justifies that kind of price. Will there be a slew of me too projects wanting to raise the price bar in the near future? Last year, grape growers determined the price they chose to charge the producers. This was a first in the history of the Douro. Quinta do Crasto controlling their own destiny, with their own manicured and ancient vine parcels only had to be concerned with the yields.![Huh? [shrug.gif]](./images/smilies/shrug.gif)
One question remains, how is this new "luxury Cuvee" different from their $40 OVR at many multiples of that price? I am assuming (wrongly?) it has more to do with oak treatment, nonetheless, nothing they are doing in vineyards or in winemaking seriously justifies that kind of price. Will there be a slew of me too projects wanting to raise the price bar in the near future? Last year, grape growers determined the price they chose to charge the producers. This was a first in the history of the Douro. Quinta do Crasto controlling their own destiny, with their own manicured and ancient vine parcels only had to be concerned with the yields.
![Huh? [shrug.gif]](./images/smilies/shrug.gif)
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