Quinta do Crasto Porto LBV Late Bottled Vintage Port 2013 750 ML

The 2011 Late Bottled Vintage Port is an unfiltered field blend with a long cork. If you’ve been following my LBV comments, including last year’s long article, you know that I mostly always think that traditional LBVs are a super value, perhaps the very best in Port. Add a terrific vintage to a traditional producer and there is not much to question here. Opening soft, lush and seductive, this expands in the glass and follows through with some tannic pop. It has a firm, tight finish. The expressive fruit is delicious now. As the vertical I did some time ago proved, though, these will age, acquire complexity and keep getting better. A few days later, it was showing fine definition of fruit and wonderful freshness that lifted and delivered the fruit to the palate. It seemed elegant all the while. This will have to evolve nicely to match the brilliant 1994 and 1997 in Crasto’s oeuvre, but it seems right on track. In particular, it has that old school finesse that reminds me of some high-end Port. There’s nothing clumsy here. It is well worth leaning up at the moment. Put it away for a few years and let it come together and show more complexity. It really needs a year or three to calm down in terms of tannic pop, but even after that it will gain complexity. There is no rush and it will offer a lot more if you wait until around 2022. Of course, if you buy enough, there is no reason to choose just one option.