Ramos Pinto 2018 Douro DOC Urtiga Shows Portugal Makes More Than Port

Known for its luscious Port, the historic house of Ramos Pinto has just released the first vintage of a one-of-a-kind red wine, Douro DOC Urtiga, a single vineyard “field blend” from a historic plot overlooking the Douro River. Growing 63 different varieties with an average vine age of 100 years, the terraced Urtiga vineyard is farmed using organic and biodynamic practices combined with modern technology in the form of a proprietary GPS app that monitors each vine via satellite. Founded by Adriano Ramos Pinto in 1880, the Port-focused house has been making and exporting non-fortified wine alongside its ruby and tawny Ports almost as long as it has been in existence. In the 1980s it was among the first to plant a dedicated vineyard and build a separate winery for the purpose of producing DOC Douro dry wines, and in 1990 Ramos Pinto was acquired by Maison Louis Roederer of Cristal Champagne fame.

The Urtiga vineyard’s stone terraces wind over eight riverfront acres with elevations between 951 and 1063 feet. Its neighbor, Quinta de Bom Retiro, dates to 1750. In 1789 Queen Dona Maria I of Portugal authorized Bom Retiro’s inclusion in the country’s demarcated winemaking zone; Ramos Pinto bought it in 1919 and then purchased Urtiga in 1933. While Ramos Pinto has made dry red and white blends from two different sites since the 1990s, in 2016 CEO Jorge Rosas led the team to the decision to create this exceptional wine.“We thought it was time to show the world the exceptional characteristics of certain unique vineyards such as Urtiga,” Rosas tells Robb Report.

While almost all the 63 varieties planted here make it into a bottle of Urtiga, the white grapes cultivated on these pre-phylloxera terraces are excluded from the mix. Well-known Portuguese grapes such as Tinta Amarela, Touriga Francesa, and Tinta Roriz are joined by rare varieties like Alvarelhão, Donzelinho Tinto, and Cornifesto. Intense winter rainfall in late 2017 and early 2018 offered good ground water reserves for the vineyard, and a heavy storm in June preceded a hot and dry July and August. A combination of walking the vineyards and use of a geo-referenced satellite app informed the team’s picking decisions. A first pass removed all grapes that were not in optimal condition, and then the entire vineyard was harvested in one day, with the different varieties co-fermented after traditional foot-treading in stone troughs, which crushes the grapes without releasing bitterness from their seeds. After alcoholic and malolactic fermentation, the wine was aged in oak for 16 months.

Retailing for $300, only 3,100 bottles were produced of Ramos Pinto 2018 Douro DOC Urtiga. It has aromas of pomegranate, ripe summer cherry, baking spices, and river rock with a sense of earthiness. It opens on the palate with strong red berry flavors that are joined by notes of baking spice, crumbled sage leaf, and a hint of slate. Polished tannins softly coat the palate and endure into a bright, fruit-filled finish. “Urtiga will bring immediate pleasure now and simultaneously has the backbone and the vitality to age for at least three decades in the right cellar conditions,” Rosas says. We recommend enjoying one bottle of this exquisite wine now and saving another for later.

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