🍇 Ramisco

Ramisco is a black-berried wine grape variety (Vitis vinifera subsp. sativa) from Portugal. The VIVC passport (variety number 9899) gives Portugal as the country of origin and lists hermaphrodite flowers, fully formed seeds, a neutral taste, chlorotype A and use as a wine grape; the variety is registered in the European Catalogue of vine varieties.

VIVC lists five synonyms: Ramisco (Açores), Ramisco de Colares, Ramisco Enforcadado, Ramisco nos Açores and Ramisco Tinto. Its area statistics for Portugal record 146 ha in 1989, 71.59 ha in 1999, 25 ha in 2007 and 23 ha in 2010.

Wines of Portugal says Ramisco is grown only in the tiny and once famous region of Colares, on the sandy coast west of Lisbon. The vines are planted ungrafted, on their own roots deep in the sand, because the phylloxera louse cannot survive in sandy soil. The same page notes that vineyard land is shrinking, and that the wines have firm tannins and high acidity, so they are less enjoyable when young but capable of long ageing in bottle.

In the European Union a variety name may appear on a wine label if at least 85% of the wine comes from that variety (Delegated Regulation (EU) 2019/33).