Douro wines make Wine Spectators "Top 100 Picks

Post by **Andy Velebil** » Tue Nov 21, 2006 2:24 pm

The latest WS top 100 has been released and here are some Douro wines that made the cut.

Rank# Score Wine
#18 97pts Quinta do Vale Meao Douro 2004

#47 93pts Quinta do Crasto Douro Reserva Old Vines 2004

#69 90pts Churchill Douro Churchill Estates 2004

#97 91pts Symington Family Estates Touriga Franca-Touriga Nacional Douro Altano Reserva 2003

Well, four in the top 100 is not too shabby

Post by **Roy Hersh** » Sat Nov 25, 2006 12:32 pm

#47 93pts Quinta do Crasto Douro Reserva Old Vines 2004

I did not look at that WS list yet, but with other Crasto wines like the 2004 Touriga Nacional receiving 96 points and their '04 Vinha da Ponte being annointed with 95 points, (not to mention three other Douro producers each receiving 94 points with their wines) I am surprised that the WS skipped over them all and their second place Douro wine was the 93 point wine you mentioned above!?!?!?!

But then again, the WS annual list has never made much sense to me. 8)

Ronald Wortel · Post by **Ronald Wortel** » Sat Nov 25, 2006 10:23 pm

As far as I know rating is not the only consideration for the top 100. Availability and price are also taken into account. Seen from that perspective it makes more sense to list the reserva than the others.

Post by **Andy Velebil** » Sun Nov 26, 2006 6:27 am

Looking at the WS website they pick the top 100 based on 4 things

1- Quality
2- Value
3- Availability (cases produced and/or imported)
4- "X-factor" (excitement)

For this years pick, they started with all the wines they scored 90 points or higher (3,000 in this case) then eventually picked the top 100 from that. It seems to be very arbitrary, as the #7 pick (Kosta Browne) has only 1,020 cases and virtually all is sold through their mailing list. Don't think that quite lives up to #3 above.

Never the less, at least some of the Douro wines made the list. A little attention is better than none