Constantino Ramos started a wine project a decade ago with grapes sourced from a high-altitude plot of land that belonged to his family. Now he sources fruit from additional plots, all at high elevation. He considers that to be essential for making fresh, acid-driven wines.
My wine club guy has some facts about Vinho Verde, located a few miles inland from the coast. Although it is a very warm region, the vineyards are planted at over 1200 feet and experience swings between daytime and nighttime temperatures of up to 40 degrees. The diurnal swing allows the grapes to ripen during the day while retaining acidity as they cool at night.
"Like all traditional Portuguese wines, this is a field blend, in this case from 100-year-old vines of varieties that are traditional to the stretch of territory that crosses over to Spanish Galicia to the east. The blend includes borraçal, alvarelhão, espadeiro, and vinhão, the latter a peculiar, dark-pigmented variety with stunning, dusty minerality reminiscent of Slovenian teran."
For Juca, "Ramos destems the grapes to avoid excessive tannin extraction, and then ages it for nearly a year in a combination of stainless steel and old barrels." The region's soil is mostly of granite, but this wine was grown in vineyards that are purely so.
This wine colors up medium ruby in the glass. The nose offers brilliant, ripe cherry aromas and very little oak effect. The palate is also fruit-forward, mainly cherry, and it is fresh and clean tasting. It is quite an enjoyable wine.
