Ramos Pinto 20 Year Tawny Quinta do Bom Retiro
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Somm Note
Winemaker Notes
This wine has a tawny color with a yellow halo that signifies an advanced stage of maturity. This is the genuine color of a 20-year-old cask-aged wine. It has a warm red color with a slight orange tone at the bottom of the glass. There is a lively aroma with a velvety texture. The aromas include those of fruit (grapefruit, apricot, almond, hazelnut and cocoa bean); wood (vanilla, old Port wine casks and phenol), roasted aromas such as cinnamon, caramel and coffee; and ethereal aromas of stearin and iodine. Smooth and dry in the mouth, the wine is complemented by a rich and generous persistence of flavor. It has a fine and delicious attack. The elegance of the first contact with the palate is maintained through a complex sequence of ripe and dried fruits and nuts in a fresh and licorice-like harmony.
Professional Ratings
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Decanter
Unusually, Ramos Pinto’s 10- and 20-year-old tawnies are single-estate wines. From Quinta do Bom Retiro in the Cima Corgo, this is a bold style with savory depth. Ruddy tawny in hue, with caramelized tarte tatin, black cardamom, marmalade and intriguing earthier molasses and ozone riffs to its dried apricot fruit, as well as praline and coffee notes. Rich, mouth filling and velvety.
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Wine Spectator
Tightly wound, this delivers a wiry, focused beam of dried peach, date, green tea, almond husk and bergamot notes. Long, racy finish has excellent cut. Drink now.
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Robert Parker's Wine Advocate
The NV RP 20 Year Old Tawny Port Quinta do Bom Retiro is a single-quinta Tawny coming in with 126 grams of residual sugar and a bar-top cork. It was bottled in February 2020. This seems pretty much on track for what the brand normally shows, but it is especially enticing right now. It shows power, depth and spice. There are classic hints of caramel and a fresh feel. That wonderful freshness is what really sells this elegant Tawny and makes it irresistible. It is impeccably balanced. The lift to the fruit gives this some extra juiciness on the bright finish. On opening, it was a bit more ponderous, but it really woke up a couple of days later. This is pricey for a 20 Year, but it is certainly a terrific one. As always, the end-date drinking window is just a placeholder—these are very resistant and age indefinitely if there is no cork problem, although they are ready on release and do not need aging.
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Wine Enthusiast
At 20 years, aged tawnies bear fruit and concentrated wood flavors, plus dry acidity. This is rich and poised, and it has a fine, full finish.
Editors' Choice. -
Wilfred Wong of Wine.com
The Ramos Pintos 20 Year Tawny Bom Retiro exhibits a superb balance of fruit and wood. The aromas show a fine mix of nuances —hazelnut, apricots, sweet oak, nutmeg and the palate is smooth and well-textured. The wine's generous finish pairs it well with poached pears in a light caramel sauce. (Tasted: October 27, 2016, San Francisco, CA)
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Wine & Spirits
From Ramos Pinto’s estate across the river from Pinhão, this wine’s complexity starts from a green tea and dried leaf scent before it fills the mouth with juicy orange and rich oak flavors. It builds from austerity to riches, generous, warm and inviting.
Founded by Adriano Ramos Pinto in 1880, Casa Ramos Pinto rapidly became noted, at the time, for its innovative and enterprising strategy. Associated with quality bottled wines, it began operating on the Brazilian market in the early 20th century and quickly became responsible for half of the wine exported to South America, whilst it was still conquering generations of loyal customers in Portugal and Europe. These were the natural results of a forward thinking strategy, based on the modernisation of selection, batching and ageing circuits, and the special care which Adriano Ramos Pinto devoted to the packaging and promotion of his wines.
Aware that the quality of its wines were confined to the earth of the wine producing Douro, Casa Ramos Pinto meticulously studied this Demarcated Region, and eventually became the owners of a number of estates with very special characteristics. The objective was to ensure the control and quality of the whole production process. By perfecting its wines, Ramos Pinto created unique nectars with its own signature.
In 1990, Casa Ramos Pinto became part of the Roederer Group, whose history has identical characteristics. The qualities that gave fame to Casa Ramos Pinto now took on an international dimension.
Port is a sweet, fortified wine with numerous styles: Ruby, Tawny, Vintage, Late Bottled Vintage (LBV), White, Colheita, and a few unusual others. It is blended from from the most important red grapes of the Douro Valley, based primarily on Touriga Nacional with over 80 other varieties approved for use. Most Ports are best served slightly chilled at around 55-65°F.
The home of Port—perhaps the most internationally acclaimed beverage—the Douro region of Portugal is one of the world’s oldest delimited wine regions, established in 1756. The vineyards of the Douro, set on the slopes surrounding the Douro River (known as the Duero in Spain), are incredibly steep, necessitating the use of terracing and thus, manual vineyard management as well as harvesting. The Douro's best sites, rare outcroppings of Cambrian schist, are reserved for vineyards that yield high quality Port.
While more than 100 indigenous varieties are approved for wine production in the Douro, there are five primary grapes that make up most Port and the region's excellent, though less known, red table wines. Touriga Nacional is the finest of these, prized for its deep color, tannins and floral aromatics. Tinta Roriz (Spain's Tempranillo) adds bright acidity and red fruit flavors. Touriga Franca shows great persistence of fruit and Tinta Barroca helps round out the blend with its supple texture. Tinta Cão, a fine but low-yielding variety, is now rarely planted but still highly valued for its ability to produce excellent, complex wines.
White wines, generally crisp, mineral-driven blends of Arinto, Viosinho, Gouveio, Malvasia Fina and an assortment of other rare but local varieties, are produced in small quantities but worth noting.
With hot summers and cool, wet winters, the Duoro has a maritime climate.