Quality and excellence
Quinta do Crasto Touriga Nacional is a premium wine produced exclusively from Touriga Nacional grapes and is only bottled in years when the highest levels of quality and excellence are achieved. This is a notable Douro Valley grape, a very fresh variety that brings vivacity to this very hot region. In addition to freshness, Touriga Nacional has a distinctive aroma marked by notes of violet. Quinta do Crasto Touriga Nacional also has a slight hint of mint that further enhances the natural freshness of the grape.
Touriga Nacional is very well adapted to the Douro Valley and encounters equilibrium when grown, preferably, at medium and high altitudes, far from the heat of the lower plots. Quinta do Crasto has two vineyards that average 300 metres in elevation. This is thought to be the best location for this grape, where it enjoys a variety of orientations, namely east, south, west, and north. In the east-facing plots, the grapes are very well balanced in most years. In warmer years, grapes grown facing west and south may suffer somewhat. In north-facing vineyards, the grape behaves very well in very hot years but may encounter more difficulties in phenolic maturation in cooler ones.
Quinta do Crasto Touriga Nacional is aged for 18 months in French oak barrels that have been specially designed to give lightly toasted notes and to bring out the freshness and aromas characteristic of Touriga Nacional. It is essential during aging that the wood not be allowed to overshadow the natural characteristics of the grape. It’s a very appealing wine from the start, with very expressive primary aromas. It takes on considerable complexity with bottle aging, without losing the characteristics of the variety.
