Ramos Pinto

Marvellous 16.5/20

Av. Ramos Pinto, 380, 4400-266 Vila Nova de Gaia, Portugal

Open Everyday from 10am - 6 pm (except 1st January, Easter Sunday, and 25th December)
The last visit takes place one hour before closing.
Cards MC,V,AE

Tasting Area

The Verdict

To "Cellarbrate": Great centrally located port lodge, a number of beautiful and spacious tasting areas, very flexible tasting offering and one of the best sets of tasting notes we have seen. Dom Hidden Gem Awarded.

To "Wine about": Nothing

How many bottles did we buy: 0

Suitable for: Couples, groups, Wine lovers

Visited October 2017 (weekday)

Getting There

Country

State/Province

Region

Accessibility

Portugal

Porto

Douro Valley

In Vila Nova de Gaia, has a very prominent position right on the waterfront. We were based in Porto and this is an easy walk over one of the bridges, however, as Porto is quite a hilly city, you can also catch the cable car to and from the top bridge to save the walk up the hill. Initially we found the entrance a little hard to find as it's not up the stairs at the front of the building, but rather through the steel gates

Upon Arrival

Parking

Setting

Commercial/Boutique

Ambiance

Airconditioning/Fireplace

There isn't a dedicated visitor carpark but there are a number of paid parking lots underground along the waterfront and there is also some paid street parking

The old historic port lodge sits on the waterfront and is a very historic large yellow building with a courtyard entrance covered with old grapevines

Commercial

The tasting room is very large with long tables and benches which tend to be used by groups and then there is a sunken lounge area where we sat for our tasting. There are polished floors throughout with beautiful exposed beams and elegant archways

Yes/No

Tasting Experience

Number of wines on tasting

Particular wines or varietals known for

Wait time

Knowledge of wines

Staff attitude

Winery Tour Offered

Tasting seating available at counter

Tasting sheet/order form provided for notes

You can complete a tour and tasting or just a tasting, as we did. The tasting is run in flights of 5 wines of varying levels or you can choose individual tastings. If you are doing a flight of 5 we suggest sharing with a friend as they are quite generous!

Port

There was no wait time, our options for the visit were listed to us straight away and our tasting was prepared immediately

Our winery assistant gave an in depth description of the wines in the flight we chose

Friendly and very helpful staff. English, French, Portuguese and Spanish tours are offered

Yes. Groups of up to 40 are taken. Note, you do not necessarily need to book in advance (we walked in and would have been able to join the next tour), however, the rule is the first to book in for the tour is given the preference of the language spoken!!

The tasting is conducted seated at tables in the tasting room or in the lounge area

One of the best sets of tasting notes we have seen in the area. They provide notes on how to taste wine plus notes on the different ports including serving temperatures and food pairings. There is even space on the back of each for you to make your own notes. We found it extremely helpful for all of our tastings

Food Offering

Yes/No

Restaurant/Café/Tasting platter

Yes

Your tasting can be completed with a cheese and ham or chocolate tasting platter

Hip Pocket

Price range of wines

Tasting Fee

Refundable on purchase?

Tour Fee

Delivery cost per dozen

Club Membership with Discounts etc

€9.50 - €120

Tasting flights of 5 are between €10 - €25, or by the glass tasting prices are €2 - €10

Tour prices start at €10

€29

Other features, facilities and offerings

Gift Shop

Toys/play area for kids

Dog friendly

By the way...

Extensive shop with wine accessories and the item that we thought was most interesting was the prints of the old advertising posters. They were very cool.

Yes, outside only

This tasting room had a great feel with a very flexible offering. Whilst we didn't do the tour on this occasion, we understand that the museum is quite beautiful and worth a look

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