Published by Jeremy.
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If you're on the quest to try rare grapes and happen to find yourself in Portugal, do yourself a favor and pick up a bottle of Ramisco from the Colares region.
This rare Portuguese grape is only grown in Colares, and is an interesting spot as it is located near the ocean in sandy, phylloxera-free soils. The result? A very interesting and bold red wine that can come with a bit of age to it, too!
We found Fundacao Oriente's Ramisco at a Garrafeira Nacional in Porto and had to enjoy it right then and there. We later went back to buy more bottles to take home!
Ramisco from Colares is an Interesting Portuguese Red
This Ramisco was pale garnet in color with medium(+) aromas of blueberry, clove, cacao, cedar, tobacco, leather, blackberry, dried cranberry, cola, dried leaves, vanilla, and caramel.
On the palate, it was dry with medium acidity, body, alcohol, and flavor intensity as well as medium(+) silky tannin and a medium(-) finish. We had flavors of blueberry, blackberry, leather, clove, cedar, tobacco, caramel, dried leaves, dried red cherry, dried cranberry, and violet to name a few.
This wine was quite beautiful at nearly 13 years old and was really developing tertiary notes well. It reminded us of a bold Cabernet Sauvignon but perhaps with a bit more heft on the darker fruit notes, which we appreciated.
Admittedly, the acidity felt like it was falling off slightly on this bottle, and we wonder if this particular bottle would improve much with more significant aging. We have seen many quite old Ramisco bottles available around Portugal (think 20+ years), but this one, perhaps, would likely struggle after a few more years' time if we had to make an educated guess.
Unfortunately, we did not have a food pairing with this wine; however, given the strong intensity of tannin and rich depth of flavor, we would gladly pair this one with a meat-forward dish like a steak or pork chop and expect it to work out really well. A rich wine for a rich Portuguese dish? We would be down for that.
Score: 3.5 / 5
We'd buy a glass of this one and another bottle of the grape to try more.
This Ramisco was quite an interesting find, and with roughly 13 years of age, this one was starting to show something beautiful. We definitely picked up a few more bottles of Ramisco (although, not necessarily this producer) while in Porugal to bring home with us!
Fundacao Oriente is located in Colares, Portugal. We purchased this bottle in Porto and enjoyed it in 2026.
