Former pharmacist Constantino Ramos left his first career only a few years after university to pursue a master’s in enology and viticulture from Vila Real. After many years as the head winemaker for Anselmo Mendes in the Monção e Melgaço, he started his eponymously labeled project in 2016, seeking out the highest altitude (300-400m), nearly abandoned and old-vine parcels of indigenous red grapes along with his own vineyard of Alvarinho (Albariño) planted in 2002. His farming methods make him an “uncertified naturalist” working vines on granite bedrock and topsoil. A confluence of continental and oceanic conditions, the higher altitude areas of Melgaço experience major diurnal swings between day and night—as extreme as a 32°C/58°F shift—leading to wines of great tension, verticality and authentic terroir expression. His range continues to grow beyond his seminal wines, Affluente Alvarinho fermented and aged in old French oak barrels, and Zafirah, a single-day skin maceration red blend of Brancelho, Borraçal, Espadeiro, Vinhão, and Pedral, aged in a mix of steel and old 225-400L French oak barrels (between 15-20 years). With the same varieties and aging as Zafirah, Juca Tinto spends one week on skins before pressing. There is also a Juca Branco (Loureiro from Vinho Verde’s Lima Valley) made in steel. No wines are fined, but the whites are filtered.