A Sample of Ramos Pinto wines
Posted: 23:46 Thu 25 Nov 2021
Ramos Pinto is a name we don't see often enough in the UK. The company makes some delicious wines and top quality Port. Thanks to Vintage Wine & Port (thank you Tony), I had the chance today to catch up with Ana Rato and to taste a small range of their wines.
Ramos Pinto was founded in 1880 by Adriano Ramos Pinto, who was working for Sandeman at the time. Adriano felt that there was a market for Port wine in Brazil which was not really being supplied by any of the existing shippers. Starting as a traditional shipper, buying wine from farmers in the Douro and blending to a house style in Vila Nova de Gaia, the company found its feet and succeeded. In 1919, supported by the success of the company so far, Ramos Pinto purchased Quinta do Bom Retiro in the Rio Torto valley and gained a little more control over the conditions in the vineyards.
Ramos Pinto continued to be based on grapes sourced from Bom Retiro and long-standing relationships with local farmers until 1974, when Quinta da Ervamoira in the Douro Superior was acquired. In 1982 the company added Quinta dos Bons Ares to the portfolio - an important addition as it offered a different soil structure. Most of the Douro lies on schistose soil, but there is a vein of granite which runs through the valley and Bons Ares lies in the Douro Superior at the top of a mountain on the granite vein giving different soils and a higher altitude for the vines. The company also owns and operates the Urtiga vineyard, which borders Bom Retiro, a small vineyard of about 3.5 hectares of pre-phylloxera terraces and with vines with an average age over 100 years. Urtiga is farmed biodynamically and has not used herbicides since 2010 - and where experience has taught the vineyard manager not to allow the sheep used during the year to keep down the weeds to be in the vineyard when the grapes are nearly ready to harvest!
Ramos Pinto operate two wineries, which they built in 1982. One is used for table wine (at Bons Ares), the other for Port. Their main markets are Portugal (50% of sales), France, USA, Brazil, Canada, UK, Netherlands and Denmark.
The wines tasted were:
Ramos Pinto was founded in 1880 by Adriano Ramos Pinto, who was working for Sandeman at the time. Adriano felt that there was a market for Port wine in Brazil which was not really being supplied by any of the existing shippers. Starting as a traditional shipper, buying wine from farmers in the Douro and blending to a house style in Vila Nova de Gaia, the company found its feet and succeeded. In 1919, supported by the success of the company so far, Ramos Pinto purchased Quinta do Bom Retiro in the Rio Torto valley and gained a little more control over the conditions in the vineyards.
Ramos Pinto continued to be based on grapes sourced from Bom Retiro and long-standing relationships with local farmers until 1974, when Quinta da Ervamoira in the Douro Superior was acquired. In 1982 the company added Quinta dos Bons Ares to the portfolio - an important addition as it offered a different soil structure. Most of the Douro lies on schistose soil, but there is a vein of granite which runs through the valley and Bons Ares lies in the Douro Superior at the top of a mountain on the granite vein giving different soils and a higher altitude for the vines. The company also owns and operates the Urtiga vineyard, which borders Bom Retiro, a small vineyard of about 3.5 hectares of pre-phylloxera terraces and with vines with an average age over 100 years. Urtiga is farmed biodynamically and has not used herbicides since 2010 - and where experience has taught the vineyard manager not to allow the sheep used during the year to keep down the weeds to be in the vineyard when the grapes are nearly ready to harvest!
Ramos Pinto operate two wineries, which they built in 1982. One is used for table wine (at Bons Ares), the other for Port. Their main markets are Portugal (50% of sales), France, USA, Brazil, Canada, UK, Netherlands and Denmark.
The wines tasted were: