After serving as a soldier in Africa, Manuel Ramilo returned to Portugal in 1895 severely ill. His godfather arranged for him to spend his final days in a tranquil village near Mafra called Alqueidão. Against all odds, Manuel recovered and married a wealthy woman he met in the village.

In 1937, Manuel started producing wine to sell to local taverns. His son, Manuel junior, and his grandson Belmiro expanded the business, buying grapes from local producers to make blends to sell to restaurants.

One day, Belmiro and his sons, Pedro and Nuno, had lunch with a friend who inquired  about the future of the family business. Belmiro replied that the future was uncertain because his kids were not interested in wine making. Shortly after this conversation, Nuno decided to study enology. Soon his passion for wine flourished to the point where he abandoned his job as a bridge engineer to work full time at Ramilo wines.

Nuno focused on the 10 hectares of vineyards owned by his family. Two hectares are planted in the sandy soils of Colares. Eight are planted in the clay, rocky soils surrounding Alqueidão, the place where it all started. It was there that we met with Nuno.

The day was foggy and humid, conditions that are normal in this region because of the proximity of the Sintra mountain and the Atlantic Ocean.  In the old days, everybody in Alqueidão made wine. The best vineyards are planted on steep slopes that face south and are sheltered from the ocean winds so grapes can reach the ideal level of maturation.

Enologists Virgílio Loureiro and Manuel Malfeito worked with Nuno to create wines that preserve the character of this unique terroir. The results are outstanding. We tried a wonderful white wine made from vital, a grape that was once overlooked because it is not very aromatic. It has a minerality that is deeply satisfying. Next, we sampled a wonderful red made from old Castelão vines that is full of salinity and vigor. Both wines come from vines planted in Alqueidão.

Nuno went to the cellar and brought back a bottle with a painted label. It was a 2017 white Malvasia from Colares. Few plants grow on sand because the soil does not retain enough moisture, explained Nuno. But farmers in Colares discovered that they could grow vines on the dunes near the ocean if they dug the sand until they found clay soil where they could plant the roots. Planting and caring for these vines is hard work. But hiding the roots three meters below the surface had a big payoff: when phylloxera devastated the European vineyards in the 19th century, the vines of Colares survived unscathed.

After breaking the wax capsule of the old-fashioned bottle, Nuno gently coaxed the cork out of the bottleneck. As soon as the yellow wine colored our glasses, we fell under the spell of its delicate aroma. The character and complexity of this Colares left us speechless. Since it was released, Nuno’s phone has not stopped ringing. He quickly sold most of the 1,200 bottles produced. Revista dos Vinhos, an influential Portuguese wine magazine, included it in its list of the top-ten Portuguese wines.

It was a privileged to try this rare nectar, the perfect wine to make a toast to the four generations of Ramilos who made it possible.

Ramilo wines is located in Alqueidão, tel. 219 611 453, email info@ramilowines.com. Click here for Ramilo’s web site.