Wines of Lisbon: Colares and Beyond! Featuring Casal Do Ramilo, Viuva Gomes and More!
Wines of Lisbon: Colares and Beyond! Featuring Casal Do Ramilo, Viuva Gomes and More!
For many, the wines of Lisbon conjure something breezy and coastal: light, salty whites, easy reds, a sense of Atlantic refreshment. But just west of the city, tucked into a landscape shaped as much by resistance as by proximity to the ocean, is Colares: one of Portugal’s most idiosyncratic and increasingly fragile wine regions.
Colares has never made things easy for winemakers. Sandy soils, own-rooted vines, low yields, and a climate that tests patience have all conspired to keep production small and the wines misunderstood. Over the years, vineyard land has disappeared into the facade of urban sprawl, and production has dwindled. Now, Colares feels less like a neatly organized appellation and more like a set of values: persistence, intensity, and a refusal to smooth out the edges. If you know any of the key-facts about Colares, then the power, intensity, and beauty of the wines should come as no surprise: it is continental Europe's westernmost winemaking region, the smallest in Portugal, and its sandy soils famously deterred the invasion of phylloxera in the 19th century, keeping alive vines which produce magical fruit to this day.
This week’s Lisbon-themed release is not an attempt to be exhaustive. Instead, it’s a snapshot of where the greater regions' wines are right now, seen through three producers we believe are essential: Casal do Ramilo, Viuva Gomes Viticultores, and Familia Rosa Santos. Together, they tell a story of inheritance, reinvention, land and sea.
Casal Do Ramilo 2019 Ramisco Colares
100% Ramisco. After treading the grapes by foot, the wine ferments in lagar before being transferred to barrel for two years of aging. Only 660 bottles produced.
$234.99
Casal Do Ramilo 2021 Malvasia Colares
From two hectares of rare and ungrafted vines in Colares, about one kilometer from the Atlantic. The soil here is comprised of clay, under about a meter of sand. The vines are trained low to the sand, permitting longer maturation...
$83.99
Familia Rosa Santos 2015 Malvasia Colares
After fermentation in used 225L barrel, this wine is aged on the fine lees for one year before a further 6 years of bottle aging. Only 300 bottles were produced in this vintage. A powerful wine that could certainly age...
$229.99
Casal do Ramilo 2022 Nativas Old Vines
100% Castelao from 80 year old vines. Our very own Greg Rubin describes this as a gateway drug to unoaked red wine. The wine is juicy but not without tannin and quite focused aromatics. Notes of balsamic and herbs compliment...
$28.99
Viuva Gomes 2022 Pirata Castelao
The Pirata line from Viuva Gomes is meant to specifically highlight the non-sandy soils of the region; in this case, clay. Saline, coastal, umami notes harmonize with crunchy, bright red fruit and florals when drinking this gorgeous light red. Despite...
$29.99
Viuva Gomes Viticultores 2022 Tinto
Viticultores is a blend of three distinctive non-sandy plots, the passion-project of our friends at Viúva Gomes in Colares. Located within the geographical area of the Colares wine-growing region, encompassing the towns of Colares, São João das Lampas and São...
$29.99
