Ramos Pinto

Adriano Ramos Pinto (1859-1927) launched the house in 1880, aged 21, and took the brand to Brazil. He studied at the Centro Artístico Portuense, which had a marked influence on the graphic material used to publicise the house. He invited his brother António Ramos Pinto (1854-1945) to join him, giving rise to the company Adriano Ramos Pinto & Irmão; António took charge of commercial and financial management. By the early 20th century the brand represented half the wines exported to South America. In 1918 the company became a private limited company, and Raúl Ramos Pinto (1895-1981), António Cálem (1888-1963) and Joaquim Allen (1872-1953) joined; the house became the market leader in Brazil while exporting over 50% of its total Port production. José António Rosas (1919-1996), also known as José Ramos Pinto Rosas, joined in 1938. In 1990 Ramos Pinto joined the Louis Roederer Champagne House. On 7 December 2017, at Christie's in London, the house held "Three Centuries of Port", a tasting covering three centuries in the presence of journalists and clients, linked to a Christie's auction of Fine & Rare Wines.

• 1880: Adriano Ramos Pinto, aged 21, launches the house.
• 1918: the company becomes a private limited company; Raúl Ramos Pinto, António Cálem and Joaquim Allen join.
• 1938: José Ramos Pinto Rosas joins.
• 1990: Ramos Pinto joins the Louis Roederer Champagne House.

José Ramos Pinto Rosas came to be considered the "Pope of the Douro" for his work on the mechanisation of the region and an in-depth study of grape varieties. As company chairman he represented Portugal at the Office International de Vigne et du Vin and was a founding member of the Confraria do Vinho do Porto; in 1982 he created ADVID (Associação para o Desenvolvimento da Viticultura Duriense), which he chaired until 1996. João Nicolau de Almeida, great-grandson of António Ramos Pinto, joined in 1976 as production manager and retired as managing director in 2016. Jorge Rosas joined the commercial department in 1986, returned to Porto in 1996 as wine export director, became a director in 2014 and took over at the helm in 2016. Jorge Rosas heads the house; Ana Rosas is Master Blender and Head of Port Wine Production, having taken over from João Nicolau de Almeida as Master Blender in 2015; João Luís Baptista, who joined in 2005, is Head of Douro Wine Production, a role he took on in 2019; and Carlos Peixoto, who began working the Ramos Pinto vines in 1979, is Head of Viticulture.

• Jorge Rosas: at the helm since 2016.
• Ana Rosas: Master Blender and Head of Port Wine Production; Master Blender since 2015.
• João Luís Baptista: Head of Douro Wine Production; joined in 2005, in charge of Douro wine production since 2019.
• Carlos Peixoto: Head of Viticulture; began working the Ramos Pinto vines in 1979.

Quinta do Bom Retiro, in the Cima Corgo near Pinhão and bathed by the River Torto, was authorised for inclusion in the "Zona de Feitoria" by Queen D. Maria I in 1789. It covers 110 hectares at 110 to 400 metres, with 80 hectares of red varieties averaging 40 years old: 40% field blend and 60% organised plantings of Touriga Nacional, Tinta Barroca, Touriga Franca, Sousão and Tinta Roriz. It was the first quinta in the Douro to introduce mechanised vertical planting (vinha ao alto). Vinha da Urtiga, adjacent to Bom Retiro in the parish of Valença do Douro, covers 4 hectares of pre-phylloxera terraces built more than two centuries ago, with vines averaging over 100 years old; 63 grape varieties were identified there in 2020. In the Douro Superior, Quinta de Ervamoira, in the parish of Muxagata in the municipality of Vila Nova de Foz Côa, covers 223 hectares at 110 to 340 metres, with 150 hectares of vines planted exclusively vertically on soils of the Ante-Ordovician Schist and Greywacke Complex, and average annual rainfall of 300 millimetres. Quinta dos Bons Ares, in the parish of Touça, covers 47 hectares at 600 metres, with 25 hectares of vines on granitic, sandy loam soils; its altitude brings cooler summers than most of the Douro Superior and about 400 mm of rainfall.

• Quinta do Bom Retiro (Cima Corgo): 110 ha in total, 80 ha of vines, 110 to 400 m.
• Vinha da Urtiga (Cima Corgo): 4 ha in total, vines over 100 years old, a field blend of red varieties.
• Quinta de Ervamoira (Douro Superior): 223 ha in total, 150 ha of vines, 110 to 340 m.
• Quinta dos Bons Ares (Douro Superior): 47 ha in total, 25 ha of vines, 600 m, granitic soils.

In the early 1980s José Ramos Pinto Rosas set João Nicolau de Almeida the task of studying about 70 Douro red grape varieties; the study selected Touriga Nacional, Aragonês, Touriga Franca, Tinta Barroca and Tinto Cão. The house adopted vertical planting after terraces suffered erosion, which allowed mechanisation in a region where labour is scarce; it also studied rootstocks and scions for each chosen variety and used bench-grafted vines. An irrigation study at Quinta de Ervamoira aimed to preserve grape quality, concentration and complexity in the Douro Superior, and led to irrigation being authorised in the sub-region. Carlos Peixoto eliminated herbicides and introduced organic and biodynamic farming methods in the vineyards; Vinha da Urtiga produces 100% biological wines and has used biodynamic practices since 2017. The house's latest study looks at the type, size and provenance of wood used in winemaking.

• Early-1980s study of about 70 Douro red varieties selected Touriga Nacional, Aragonês, Touriga Franca, Tinta Barroca and Tinto Cão.
• Quinta do Bom Retiro was the first in the Douro to introduce mechanised vertical planting.
• The Ervamoira irrigation study led to irrigation being authorised in the Douro Superior.
• Herbicides eliminated; organic and biodynamic methods introduced under Carlos Peixoto.

White Ports are made exclusively from white grapes: White, Lágrima Branco, Adriano White Reserve and a 20 Year Old White. The ruby range includes Lágrima Tinto, Ruby, Collector Reserve, Late Bottled Vintage and Vintage; the Late Bottled Vintage and Vintage are not filtered. Vintage Port is bottled as Ramos Pinto, Quinta de Ervamoira and Quinta do Bom Retiro. The Ramos Pinto Vintage is made from Bom Retiro, Urtiga and Ervamoira grapes only in years of outstanding quality; technical sheets exist for the 1982, 1983, 1994, 1995, 1997, 2000, 2003, 2004, 2007, 2011, 2015, 2017 and 2024 vintages. For 2011 the house announced only its classic Vintage, not the Ervamoira single-quinta wine it often releases alongside it. Tawnies are blends of various years aged in 650-litre casks: Tawny, Adriano Reserve, 10 Year Old Quinta de Ervamoira, 20 Year Old Quinta do Bom Retiro, 30 Year Old and 50 Year Old, plus Vinces Very Old Tawny. On the unfortified side, João Nicolau de Almeida, by then managing director, created the Duas Quintas DOC Douro wine after 1990, followed by Bons Ares in 1992. The label grew out of a December 1990 dinner at which the house's president, José António Rosas, and João Nicolau de Almeida poured Jean-Claude Rouzaud a dry table wine made from extra production not used for Port; Rouzaud arranged new winemaking and ageing equipment so that commercial bottlings could begin with the next harvest. The Douro range also includes Duas Quintas Reserva, Quinta de Ervamoira and Urtiga wines, and the house makes an Aged Brandy.

• White Port: White, Lágrima Branco, Adriano White Reserve, 20 Year Old White.
• Ruby styles: Lágrima Tinto, Ruby, Collector Reserve, Late Bottled Vintage and Vintage (Ramos Pinto, Quinta de Ervamoira, Quinta do Bom Retiro).
• Tawny: Tawny, Adriano Reserve, 10, 20, 30 and 50 Year Old, Vinces Very Old Tawny; aged in 650-litre casks.
• Douro wines: Duas Quintas, Duas Quintas Reserva, Bons Ares, Quinta de Ervamoira and Urtiga; plus an Aged Brandy.

In the house's own words, Quinta de Ervamoira's grapes produce "full-bodied, highly concentrated wines", Quinta dos Bons Ares wines are "fresh, aromatic and with balanced natural acidity", and Bom Retiro grows grapes "that produce elegant and complex wines with great ageing potential". Writing in Decanter in 2020, Richard Mayson called Bom Retiro's single quinta tawny "utterly sublime" and counted the 1994, 2000 and 2011 among the magnificent recent vintages of Ramos Pinto's Vintage Port. In Wine Spectator's April 2013 report on the 2011 declarations, João Nicolau de Almeida anticipated a life in bottle of 50 to 100 years for the 2011 Vintage.

The Ramos Pinto Visitor Centre in Vila Nova de Gaia houses the Adriano Ramos Pinto Museum, set in the former Ramos Pinto offices from the early 20th century, with the office of the founder and the collection of Belle Époque posters; the lodge stores about 278,900 litres of Port. In 1997 the house established the Sítio de Ervamoira Museum at Quinta de Ervamoira to make the collection of its Historical Archives available to researchers. The museum stands in the Vale do Côa Archaeological Park, which protects 30 kilometres of rock engravings classified as a World Heritage Site by UNESCO.

• Adriano Ramos Pinto Museum and lodge: Ramos Pinto Visitor Centre, Av. Ramos Pinto, Vila Nova de Gaia.
• Sítio de Ervamoira Museum: inaugurated in 1997, in the Vale do Côa Archaeological Park.

Primary sources (producer's own site): https://www.ramospinto.pt/en/house/origin/, https://www.ramospinto.pt/en/house/team/, https://www.ramospinto.pt/en/house/motto/, https://www.ramospinto.pt/en/vineyards/bom-retiro/, https://www.ramospinto.pt/en/vineyards/urtiga/, https://www.ramospinto.pt/en/vineyards/ervamoira/, https://www.ramospinto.pt/en/vineyards/bons-ares/, https://www.ramospinto.pt/en/wines/, https://www.ramospinto.pt/en/visits/sitio-de-ervamoira-museum/, https://www.ramospinto.pt/en/visits/casa-adriano-ramos-pinto-museum/, https://www.ramospinto.pt/en/, https://www.ramospinto.pt/en/wines/duas-quintas-reserve-red/, https://www.ramospinto.pt/en/wines/10-year-tawny-porto-ervamoira/, https://www.ramospinto.pt/en/wines/20-year-tawny-porto-bom-retiro/, https://www.ramospinto.pt/en/wines/vintage-ramos-pinto/, https://www.ramospinto.pt/en/casa/events/three-centuries-port-casa-ramos-pinto-christies/, https://www.ramospinto.pt/en/visits/ramos-pinto-visitor-centre/. Secondary sources: Wine Spectator (Alison Napjus, Top 100 of 2019, excerpted from the 15 December 2015 issue; Luis Antunes, 24 April 2013), Decanter (Richard Mayson, published 31 October 2020) and Wines of Portugal (ViniPortugal press release, 14 November 2016). Last verified 2026-10-14. Where the producer's site and a secondary source disagree, the producer's site governs.