Joao Portugal Ramos Vila Santa Reserva

About Joao Portugal Ramos Vila Santa Reserva

Joao Portugal Ramos Vila Santa Reserva shows very ripe black fruits blending beautifully with the spiciness imparted by the American and French oak barrels. Elegant and full-bodied with soft tannins. A big powerful and full wine. The grapes are cooled down in a cooling house for 24 hours, are then destemmed, and transferred to marble lagares, where they are foot trodden before and during the alcoholic fermentation. At 2/3 of the alcoholic fermentation process, the must is racked with skins to stainless steel tanks where the fermentation ends, and it’s followed by a 10-day maceration. After pressing and MLF the wine is racked into oak barrels.12 months in first and second-year American and French oak barrels.

About João Portugal Ramos

João Portugal Ramos is Portugal’s most famous winemaker. Before making his own wines, he was a pioneering wine consultant widely considered Portugal’s Pierro Antinori or Emile Peynaud (The New York Times). His many accolades include winning 2010 Personality of the Year and 2006 Producer of the Year (Essencia do Vinho); 2010 Viticulture Team of the Year, 2000 Winemaker of the Year, and 1998 Company of the Year (Revista de Vinhos); 1999 & 2004 Winemaker of the Year and 2004 Producer of the Year (Vin & Mat, Sweden); 2004 Newcomer of the Year (Wein Gourmet, Germany); and the 2008 Prize for Entrepreneurship and Innovation (Portuguese Ministry of Agriculture).

In the decades that Ramos consulted, he almost single-handedly opened Portuguese winemaking to the benefits of modern technologies, emphasizing low yields, occasional oak aging, and the preservation of a grape’s natural fruit flavors. In 1990, he decided it was time to start creating his own wine, and he began planting vineyards in Alentejo around his new winery, Vila Santa.

Ramos draws from his decades of experience to carefully create a range of wines. Depending on the provenance and variety of the grape, Ramos employs temperature-controlled vinification in steel tanks or traditional foot-treading in marble lagares, followed by aging in barrique to add richness of character. For all his wines, he employs advanced quality-control systems that have set the standard in Portugal.

Born to a family with a long history of wine production, internationally acclaimed oenologist João Portugal Ramos was awarded a degree in agronomy from El Instituto Superior de Agronomia (Higher Institute of Agronomy) in 1977. After receiving a work placement at the National Winegrowing Station at Dois Portos from 1977 to 1978, he embarked on a career as an oenologist. As a consultant, he has played a significant role in developing some of Portugal’s most notable wines. These successes have won him many awards and accolades throughout his career and brought him national and international acclaim as one of the main figures responsible for developing Portuguese wines during the last 20 years.