Susie & Peter / Podcast Episodes  / Season Six / Portugal’s Great Whites

Summary

This show’s got everything.

It’s got deliciously unexpected wine discoveries. It’s got live music. It’s even got a donkey.

You can’t ask for more than that.

As for how that all comes together…well, you’ll just have to listen, won’t you?!

This episode’s all about Portugal’s white wines, the best of which are astonishingly good and different and worthwhile (and, relatively speaking, inexpensive).

Join us as we explore why this is, from Vinho Verde to the Douro, Dão, Alentejo and beyond, with the help of top-notch producers Tiago Mendes and Daniel Niepoort, plus plenty of open bottles.

Starring

Tiago Mendes
Daniel Niepoort

Links

  • You can find our podcast on all major audio players: Apple Podcasts, Spotify, Google, Amazon and beyond. If you’re on a mobile, the button below will redirect you automatically to this episode on an audio platform on your device. (If you’re on a PC or desktop, it will just return you to this page – in which case, get your phone out! Or find one of the above platforms on your browser.)

Launch podcast on your device

Wines

Here are the wines we recommend in this episode.

Click on the wine name for the Wine Searcher link to find where you can buy this wine around the world:

Get in Touch!

We love to hear from you. 

You can send us an email. Or find us on social media (links below).

Or, better still, leave us a voice message via the magic of SpeakPipe:


Transcript

NB: this transcript is AI generated. It’s not perfect.

Susie: Hello and welcome to Wine Blast! In this episode, we’re going to be rocking out to the strains of Portuguese white wines. And if you understandably don’t quite know what that means, you’ll just have to stay tuned to find out.

Peter: I’m not sure I quite know what it means and I’m the one making this episode with you! So maybe I should stay tuned or just re tune or I don’t know what. But anyway, suffice it to say, you know, music will be involved, delicious, white wine from Portugal will be involved, and a certain amount of fun will be had.

Susie: I hope so!

Peter: Here’s a taster of what’s coming up.

Tiago Mendes: I’m amazed to see that even in top restaurants you find Portuguese white wines.

Daniel Niepoort: I just think that there is really a very, very big potential of these varieties and local and terroir, what we have over here. If you compare also to Burgundy, we are much more affordable than Burgundy…

[Live music plays]

Susie: So this is going to take a bit of explaining! but before we do that, those were the words of top notch Portuguese producers Tiago Mendes and Daniel Niepoort who we’ll be hearing more from a little later in the show.

Peter: We’ve also had a couple of listener questions in, one was from Heikki Raappana. So sorry, Heikki if I got that wrong, but Heikki is a Finnish wine lover from Brussels who enjoyed our Rias Baixas episodes. ‘This summer. I drank a lot of Portuguese Alvarinhos and concluded they’re more floral and a tad more aromatic than their northern, Spanish siblings. Probably because there is more often Loureiro in the blend. as a follow up or spin off to your Ria Spaixas episodes, it would be interesting to listen to your views on the Portuguese Alvarinho that is Albariño from the other side of the Minho River.’

Susie: And then we had a speak pipe message from Jenna, which went as follows.

Jenna: I, was wondering if you ever had an episode about vinho verde. But we just got a orange wine that’s a vino verde at the restaurant I work at. And I was trying to send one of your podcasts to my fellow servers about vinho verde and just a little bit more about it. I know it’s like a blend of a bunch of different grapes, but we were just curious about what the whole process is and which grapes and all of that. And yeah, it’s fun. it’s my first orange vino verde wine Super exciting. So I’d love to get a little bit more info. Thank you.

Peter: So there’s obviously interest in Portuguese whites out there. and then clearly fate was decreeing. This was a subject we were going to have to dive into because we were asked to host a masterclass in Lisbon featuring some of Portugal’s very finest white wines. and I think it’s fair to say that we were blown away by the wines we encountered while doing that.

Susie: We were lucky. We were lucky enough to feature some absolutely stunning wines. And we’ll get onto that, in a moment. What wasn’t maybe quite so stunning was the musical performance we put on at the same event. So this was Vinho de Casa, a fantastic annual event in Portugal featuring Portugal’s very best wine producers in a house over a weekend together with music Master classes, Michelin starred food, you know, that kind of thing. And for some reason they asked us to do a music set, didn’t they?

Peter: They did. I don’t know what they were thinking. Maybe they had a bit too much Madeira…

Susie: They’ll never do that again!

Peter: Anyway, it was a bit of fun. And, you know, we billed our performance as much sort of as comed really as music really. just an excuse for a sing along. and seeing as we’re in the business of regularly oversharing on this podcast, here’s a mega mix sample of what went down. Just to be clear, it’s only 54 seconds for you to endure or, you know, skip through. It’s basically stuff recorded on people’s phones, hence the dodgy sound quality and slightly, off key background singing, I think we can say. So, yeah, you can picture the raucous audience involvement, dancing and general carousel and merriment.

MUSIC INTERLUDE: [Live music plays]

Susie: So that’s what happens when you have one too many Portuguese white wines. Be warned.

Peter: Oh, my word. you know, they did actually have some proper musicians playing after us, didn’t they?

Susie: Good they went after…

Peter: Exactly. So they weren’t too scarred after us. They sort of had a chance to recover. Though I have to say I’m not sure anyone will have recovered from the rendition of Happy Birthday that I completely, comprehensively butchered on the guitar. Anyway, moving, moving swiftly on. shall we set the scene briefly for what we’re supposed to be talking about?

Susie: Absolutely. so we covered Portuguese still wines not too long

00:05:00

Susie: ago, but a lot of that was focused on the reds. And I think there’s a general perception that, when we’re talking about Portuguese wine beyond port and Madeira, it is all about the reds. But actually what we’ve been discovering lately is that Portuguese white wines, which often sail under the radar, can be just as delicious and maybe even more exciting right now.

Peter: Yeah, yeah. And they’re getting better and ever more exciting by the vintage. I was just talking to American sommelier Micah Clark of Raffles in Boston about this and he said that Portuguese whites had for long, you know, seemed to be an afterthought or relatively basic stuff, but now they’re being totally reinvented in his view. And these days they are, in his words, compelling.

Susie: Now, you know, let’s be fair, white wine only represents about a third of Portugal’s total production, but along Atlantic coast, plus a host of intriguing indigenous grape varieties, including a lot of field blends and historic styles, they make for a diverse and intriguing white wine scene. And most of us have heard of Vinho Verde the so called green wine grown in the north of the country, often not far from the Spanish border and famous for its spritzy tang and low alcohol. But these days there are intriguing whites made all over the country in all kinds of styles.

Peter: Yeah, for example, there were two wines, weren’t there, that absolutely flawed us. Yeah. When we were doing, ah, our prep for this meltzer. So firstly, you know, we had Luis Pato’s vinas Velas Branco 1990 from Bayrada, a blend of Bical, Maria Gomez, Sercial and Cercialinho. Told you these grapes were different. Pure liquid toasted nuts, honey, woolly, flinty truffle. I just wrote one word. I wrote heaven. It was in a while, and then there was the Gloria Reynolds Art and tradition white 2007 from the Atlantejo, made from barrel aged antal vase. really deep amber in colour. And we’re sort of mesmerising flavours of roasted peaches, toasted nuts, spicy, intense, savoury, sort of quite sherry, like in a way insanely good with Conte cheese. You know, utterly gorgeous wines.

Susie: They were amazing. And we were also impressed actually by the wines of Anselmo Mendes a superstar grower in Vinho Verde who started his own project out of his garage. And he’s renowned for doing weird and wonderful things like ageing his Vinho Verde wines in oak and making orange styles way before other people considered these things were even, feasible, let alone wise.

Peter: Yeah. So this, combined with the Vinho Verde themes of our listener questions, prompted us to chat with Anselmo’s son, Tiago who speaks way better English than his dad, it’s fair to say. I know, I know Anselmo would recognise that too. Now, Tiago said that white wine production was definitely an increasing focus in Portugal as wine drinkers were looking ever more for lighter, fresher styles of wine

Susie: Yeah. Now Tiago’s dad, Anselmo, has been dubbed Mr. Alvarinho. but of course, there are other grape varieties in the Vinho Verde region, like the up and coming Loureiro and Avesso. So I asked Tiago whether he thought the future for Vinho Verde was in single varietal wines or in blended wines.

Tiago Mendes: I would say the single varietals, traditionally the blends, you find it mostly on the entry level wines. For example, we do an entry level with Alvarinho Loureiro and Avesso which is. Which are, for us the three main white grape varieties of the region. But definitely in the single varietals. I believe that the future of the Vinho Verde will be the discovery of the other grape varieties. So mainly the markets always look for the Alvarinho. I think the Alvarinho is very well consolidated, it’s very renowned. But I think people are now discovering grapes such as Loureiro Aveso. And so I believe that that is the future is to show the diversity of these grapes.

Susie: And tell me about Loureiro. It’s less well known, as you say, than Alvarinho. What does it bring to Portugal’s white wine offering?

Tiago Mendes: Oh, for me, Loureiro is my favourite grape. I have actually done a Loureiro back in 2019. It was kind of a challenge. I told my father, you know, people always talk about the Alvarinho, Alvarinho Albariño. Why don’t we shift the focus and start to highlight the Loureiro as the next star of the region? I really believe that it’s a grape with tremendous quality. the problem was that, in the past, the focus was mainly on quantity and not so much in the quality. It’s, actually the most planted grape inside of the Vinho Verde but it was traditionally used for entry level wines often blended with other grapes. and the focus wasn’t really much in the quality. And if you look now, I think the quality of the Loredus is quite high. I believe that is the wine that really suits the Palate for. For today’s trends, because it’s really quite an aromatic grape. You know, you get a lot of citric aromas, floral

00:10:00

Tiago Mendes: notes, and really has this vibrant and fresh acidity. also due to the proximity to the Atlantic Ocean, it really brings out this freshness in the wines, which is something that is that people are looking for. And so I really believe it’s the next start of the vineyard region.

Susie: How strong is terroir expression in Vinho Verde? And if it is noticeable, what are the key sub regions or terroirs that we should know about?

Tiago Mendes: Well, number one, definitely Monçao y  Melgaço which is the sub region, which is like, for the heart and soul of the Albariño wines. This is a region or a sub region in this case, that has really had a, different path from the rest of the vineyard region throughout the years. Even today, we have our own seal, so Vinho Verde de Monçao in our own wines. Because really, this is where, let’s say, the majority of the premium producers are located at and where you can find a lot of, you know, single vineyard alvarinhos in different styles. But, definitely the level of quality is quite high there. But also another sub region that is in the spotlight is the Lima sub region, where the we can find the Loureiro wines, which is closer to the Atlantic Ocean. This is definitely a region that has been seen an increase in quality throughout the years. And, yes, once again, we really love the laureate grapes, and we really believe it’s the next star of the region. Another sub region would be the Baião sub region, which is where the Avesso comes, from. This is right in the border with the Douro region. it’s actually in the Douro Valley. So if you visit this region, you will see that it’s very similar to the Douro, but we are still in the Vinhoverd region. And, although Diavesto is still well known, we have seen a, consistent growth throughout the years. Really produce outstanding wines with a mineral character, you know, gastronomic wines that are very well structured and we really love them. unfortunately, they are not so known. But I think that in, in a few years, it will be on the spotlight as well.

Susie: And just on that note, could you say that Portuguese whites can compete internationally? You know, why should people look to buy a Portuguese white rather than something else?

Tiago Mendes: Well, the Portugal is still well known for the money, for value. So you kind of have these wines that have a lot of quality for a good price. this is Very good, because that makes us very competitive. Although we still believe that we need to value our wines and we need to start rising, the prices. I believe that we have this amazing, Atlantic coast, which really allows us to produce these refreshing white wines. We have a huge diversity of grapes. You know, we were just talking about Albariño Lord and the vice inside of the vineyard. But obviously, if you go to the Douro Alentejo down, you have grapes such as the Encruzado Viousino Arinto which are amazing grapes.

Susie: And do you think that’s important to sort of highlight the fact that you’ve got all these indigenous varieties, which you don’t find in other markets around the world as a point of differentiation?

Tiago Mendes: Yes, definitely. I think that also one of the trends of consumption today is people are more willing to try new things, you know, and they, want to try new grapes. You know, they just don’t want to just drink the Chardonnay, the Sauvignon. They want to go for different, grape varieties, unique grape varieties, where they can find it anywhere else. Unfortunately, Portugal definitely has a huge variety of, grape varieties, and, that really make it a unique country, in that sense, I have to.

Susie: Ask you, I think you make an orange wine don’t you? Tell me about that.

Tiago Mendes: Yes, we do. Well, after the experiment that my father had done with the barrels in 1998, in 2001, he did his second experiment, which was the curtimenta. So curtimenta in Portuguese, basically is the fermentation with the skins. So we did this first orange wine So he made the Albariño fermented, with the skins. And, at the time my father had this main distributor was based in Lisbon in the capital. And he sold one pallet to this distributor in. Within a week, this distributor returned the pallet to the winery, saying, the wine is completely ruined. The wine is orange. It’s oxidised. Nobody likes the wine And so my father was shocked. He was saying, no, but this is, you know, this is a, wine made with fermentation with skins. This is an experiment I’ve done. And he said, anselmo, nobody likes the wine And so my father started to shorten down the period with the skin. So, today this wine called purtimenta, only spends 24 hours with the skins. but lately we have launched a new wine called Tempo, which is made with the full fermentation with the skins. So Tempo means time. My father always says that time is the most important

00:15:00

Tiago Mendes: factor in the wine Industry. And, if we look back at the time, my father, I think it was quite ahead of his time. So, one of the trends today, people love orange wine Everybody looks for orange wine So my father kind of gets upset when someone goes, doing a tasting, and says, oh, you are also making orange wine And he always replies like, I was doing orange wine before. It was cool and trendy.

Susie: So he was definitely ahead of the curve, wasn’t he?

Tiago Mendes: Yeah, exactly.

Susie: What would you say Tiago is the future for Portuguese whites?

Tiago Mendes: From what I’ve been talking to many producers in Portugal, definitely white wine is the focus. they have seen the growing consumption, even with climate change. There have been, you know, some regions have been, shifting towards the focus towards white wines. I believe that the future for white wines of Portugal is continuing to highlight our grapes, the diversity of our grapes, improving the quality and definitely the communication and promotion of these wines internationally. So I have the opportunity and the privilege to travel a lot to, you know, markets like the U.S. uK, Germany, and I’m amazed to see that even in top restaurants, you find Portuguese white wines today. And so, once again, it’s not just the money for value, but also I believe that we’re starting to position ourselves also as the premium in the premium category as well.

Susie: Tiago thank you so much.

Tiago Mendes: Thank you so much, Suzy.

Peter: So Loureiro, as his big tip for the future of Vinho Verde, alongside Alvarinho I guess, which, you know, which is going great guns both in Portugal and Spain. you know, he’s a wine majoring on freshness combined with structure and intensity. and I guess this picks up on our listener question from Heiki, doesn’t it? You know, how. Well, to put this question to you, how would you sum up our views on Portuguese Alvarinho and I guess in the mix?

Susie: Yeah, well, I mean, I think they’re both really exciting, in the same way that the Ríos Baixas wines are really pushing the boundaries for fine white. So are Portuguese Alvarinos and Larreiros. You know, I think it’s hard to maybe differentiate the two sometimes in quality terms, but I do think Lareiro and Alveso have great potential in Portugal. They can have lovely aromatics and structure, a real freshness, too. You know, really good matches for seafood and increasingly, as we said, sort of diverse in style. So, yeah, I’d say exciting.

Peter: Yeah. I mean, I remember going out there a few years ago and being impressed by, you know, how this amazing sort of historic region was Being revived and reinvented with kind of serious, age worthy, structured wines. Not just the sort of simple, basic fare of the past. And we’ve even got the orange wines too, which picks up on Jenna’s point. You know, the kind of wine that’s also ideal with food. So hopefully it went down well in the restaurant. Jenna.

Susie: Okay, so coming up, we hear from Daniel Niepoort a producer of glittering repute, and we recommend some rather exciting Portuguese whites from right across the price spectrum. By way of summary so far, Portuguese whites are having a moment, emerging from the shadow of the fortifieds and reds as serious fine wines offering great value and character. Often a bit of experimental fun too. Exploring and discovering them can involve a lot of joy. It can even inspire music.

Peter: Yeah, well, I won’t start singing just to reassure you. At least not yet. Give me time.

Susie: We’re all happy about that.

Peter: We’ve explored the wines of the north, but then we wanted to turn our attention to more central and southern parts of Portugal, like the Douro, Dao, Bairada and Alentejo. And one winery that makes innovative, intriguing, and very often utterly delicious wines from all these places is Nieport.

Susie: So after much trying, we finally managed to pin down Daniel Niepoort a, ah, busy man, given he’s a new father and with no shortage of wine business on his plate, ah, we found him wandering in a vineyard in the Dao region in the company of a dog and a donkey. Sounds a bit like a children’s fairy tale. Anyway, I asked him what is exciting about Portuguese whites right now?

Daniel Niepoort: Well, I don’t know, if only for white, but, also for white. It’s just like Portugal has so many, different, strange, varieties, where often, when people often ask me, what grapes are in, in this, in this, in this white wine And then often I like to give the answer, well, I don’t know. And then they look at me, why? How can you not know? And I’m like, well, because it doesn’t really matter. You know, we have often field blends where it’s mixed varieties. And and I really kind of like this idea of field blends. And

00:20:00

Daniel Niepoort: I mean white wine it’s, it’s great. And in a way we see that more and more people are actually looking for or white wine I don’t know why, if it’s only in Portugal, but in general.

Susie: And do you feel that this, the fact you have all these indigenous varieties is your kind of USP as a country?

Daniel Niepoort: I think it should be yes. Nothing, nothing against the, other international varieties. They are great, but I think we should sow what we have. And as Portugal was kind of always forgotten a little bit, a lot of people kind of come to me and like, oh, you also make white wine in Portugal. I thought, there is only red wine and maybe Vinho Verde. But, yeah, so I think it’s. It’s definitely something what we should show the people and explain to people, even when sometimes it’s a bit more difficult because people are used to ask for a Chardonnay or a Riesling.

Susie: Now, Coche is one of our favourite wines of yours. It’s an old vine field blend. How do you go about making that particular wine?

Daniel Niepoort: Well, it’s. It’s funny you. You mentioned that. And. And actually, a lot of people really ask, what is. What’s the secret about. Coche And. And to be honest, there is. There is not really. There is not really a secret. it’s. We try. There’s always a few very old vineyards, so it’s never only one vineyard. And then we, of course, for this vineyard, we and Luis put extra, extra attention to pick in the. In the perfect moment, whatever that means. and then, we select the best barrels and it’s. It’s just like a, good mix. You know, we have these components of, the nice reduction. The reduction, the flintiness what we like. Then we have some barrels. They are. They are quite neutral, but they give you a, very good meat palate. And then some, they are for the freshness, some are more for the body. We don’t really work with batonage. We think doulu is. You cannot really hide that you are in douru, you know, and you shouldn’t. It’s still. You make a fresh. You make a fresh wine but there is always the sun somewhere.

Susie: Now, tell us about the Dao region and the encrusado grape. You know, what’s the secret to getting the best out of that particular variety?

Daniel Niepoort: so I’m actually, I’m exactly here in down.

Susie: I can see I’ve got to describe to everybody what you. I’m watching you walk around a vineyard as we talk.

Daniel Niepoort: Yeah, well, actually, Encruzado I don’t know so well, because often the grapes we work here, it’s pickal and a. And all this kind of stuff. But, I think, it’s a nice grape. In Encruzado we also. We’re gonna plant a little bit, but, I would say it’s not. It’s not one of the Grapes that we only want to focus on because Daun has, I guess, more to offer than only in Cruzado. So here it’s much less of a field blend, in down, but still, there is some, And I like that. So I rather also like to focus on that. If you speak about Incursado and the white wines from the Daung, I think the down region is. It’s really one of the most fantastic, regions we have in Portugal. It’s just so underestimated, in a way. And, I will never forget, we had once a tasting where we opened, a white wine from down, from 78. And, we decanted, some, burgundy from 2009 or 11, something like that. Put the. In a decanter. We served it blind. And, yeah, most of the people on the table, they thought that the 78 was younger than the 2009. And, I just think that there is really a very, very big potential of, these varieties and local and terroir, what we have over here.

Susie: So what have been the most exciting innovations that you’ve done as a company on the white wine front?

Daniel Niepoort: I mean, at the end, you know, we just try to make good white wine We do work with Flor. We do. We always try to do in the Vigneverde, like, you know, a, kabinett, make something like, Riesling style. This we definitely do. And in the Vinho Verde, we also try to kind of show how good Loureiro, as a grape can be.

Susie: Am I right in thinking the first white still wine that you made was the Redoma? Is that right?

Daniel Niepoort: Yes, my. My father. Yeah, exactly.

Susie: Can you describe that to us and how that’s evolved over the years?

Daniel Niepoort: So the one we recently tasted quite a lot was really this 1996. And, for me, one of the most beautiful days in my life was when I worked in Burgundy. And after my, harvest and all that, the whole team came to Portugal.

00:25:00

Daniel Niepoort: And then, my father, he opened the three litre bottles of, the hello, my 96. And we served it to all these Burgundy guys. And. And you know when. When you see, people from. From France and especially from Burgundy and they just like, wow, this is very, very good. And, I think that was just like, really nice because people don’t expect that, you know, from. From Dodo and from Portugal. And it is also quite a new thing. and to be honest, I don’t know how it’s possible that this wine is so good, huh? Because at the time, there was no cellar, there was no cooling, there was no nothing. And I think this is just teaching us that stellar technologies. It’s nice and it’s good, but we also have to be very careful that we noticed over. Protect everything. And this is what we, in general, try to. Try to do. You know, be very clean and work well, but not, protecting too much and give time to things, you know?

Susie: So, going back to your Burgundy, guys, loving your wine do you think that Portuguese whites do compete internationally? You know, why should people look to buy Portuguese white rather than white from somewhere else?

Daniel Niepoort: I think Portuguese wines have a lot of, personality, and, they’re very good. And if you want to compare to Burgundy. And when you spoke about Coche in the beginning, it was, let’s say my father tried to do something like. Like a Burgundy Chardonnay without Chardonnay and without Burgundy. But, then quite fast, it turned into, into, like, more than inspiration. And today, we often, we talk about that. It’s. It’s very nice to actually. You can taste Kosh. It’s not a copy of Burgundy, you know, even when you can put it in a blind taste next to Burgundy. so I think it’s. It’s very beautiful that it become kind of, this kiss can be douru, you know? And I think that’s also where we’re looking for. We try not to mark the wines too much, even. Even if with. Gosh, we work a little bit with new wood. But, in general, we never want to have just woody wine you know? And, And then I think if you compare also to Burgundy, we are much more affordable than Burgundy. Yeah.

Susie: Isn’t everything? So what. One final question, Daniel. What. What do you think is the future, for Portuguese white wines?

Daniel Niepoort: I think we have a very good future because people see that Portuguese, white wine exists, first of all. Second of all, people see that Portugal is existing, and a lot of people come to Portugal, and, that’s really the best way to actually show, what’s Portugal about? And I just hope that we here in Portugal, we stay Portugal, you know, that we don’t let us influence too much from other things. I mean, we can for sure. We have to learn a lot, but, we still should stick to the. Stick to the roots, of Portugal, and I think then we have a very good future. And, this for white wine but also for red and also for port.

Susie: Daniel, thank you so much.

Daniel Niepoort: Yeah, no, my pleasure.

Peter: More affordable than Burgundy, and with the roots of Portugal. Now, this reminded me of a comment from Paulo Nunes, who’s a top producer in the Dao region, a, big fan of historic variety blends, who makes outstanding whites under the Casa de Pasarela and Vila Oliveira, labels now. He said, I wish people would stop comparing our whites to Burgundy. I think Burgundy should compare its whites to ours.

Susie: I love it. But when you taste these really lovely dhow whites, particularly, but not exclusively, those involving the Encrozardo grape, they’re often really mineral and savoury and they age beautifully. So you can see why people make the comparisons, can’t you?

Peter: Yeah, you can, you know, and in the context of Burgundy, you, discussed Niepore’s Coche wine with Daniel. Now we should explain this is a hugely complex, if you haven’t tried it before, flinty, nutty, savoury white they make from a field blend in the Douro. It’s, far from cheap, in fact quite the opposite. But it’s stunning if you get a chance to try it. The 2020 was looking super superb, recently.

Susie: Good point. and on that note, actually to pick up on a couple of other things we referenced in passing, Nieput also makes an off dry Loureiro in the Vinho Verde in what they describe as a sort of a cabinet style. So like an off dry German Riesling. That, that’s really nice. They have whites age under aged, under floor, so in the, the style of sherry. They also do a cross regional blend called Doda from the Douro and Dao. in fact, it’s pretty amazing the range of stuff they do and you know, checking out the wines on their website is. It’s a bit like rubbing a genie’s

00:30:00

Susie: lamp. You know, all sorts of weird and wonderful things seem to pop up.

Peter: Yeah, indeed. We’ll be coming back to Redoma, which Daniel mentioned in a bit, because now we’re going to taste and recommend a few wines of the Portuguese white persuasion, aren’t we?

Susie: We are indeed. I thought you’d never ask. Right, so I’ve got a couple of decent value options from the wine Society who are in the, in the UK. And the first is the natural mystic Vinho Verde 2023. which is fresh and zesty, though it’s not spritzy. it’s relatively simple but decent value, just over a tenner. So it’s based on, on Larreira with a splash of Albarino.

Peter: So touching on that, Lorero.

Susie: Yes. yeah, and it’s decent, isn’t it nicely packaged. And then we’ve got here the Fonte de Oro Branco 2023 from Dao. this is made with the encrusado and orinto grapes. It has kind of piercing aromas of, fennel and white currant and you’ve got some apricot kernel, in there. And then, then the palate is bright, it’s zesty, it’s stony, it’s a bit saline. It’s kind of a, I suppose a bit like a really good albarino or pit pool and with a little bit of shabbly stoniness. It’s bold and revitalising. You get a lot of wine there for the price. I mean, again, just, I think it’s 1050. So really good wine

Peter: Yeah, yeah, I agree. You know, I thought it had sort of shades of Asyrtica, you know, with sort of chalky mineral, tense, tangy, you know, kind of food friendly style.

Susie: Yeah.

Peter: But, you know, there we go, making comparisons. You know, Paolo Nunes would be, will be slapping us on the wrist. So, I’ll move on, I’ll move on. Quinta da Fonte Soto Branco 2022. This one’s made by the Symington family in Portalegre, a, high altitude quality hotspot in the Alentejo, which, is sort of south central Portugal in the east, if that makes any sense. Anyway, it’s made from the, grapes, you know, it’s gorgeous, mealy, flinty, toasted nut aromas. Some sort of dried apricot and red apple as well. And then on palate it’s kind of generous and savoury. It’s quite pithy and spicy on the finish. You know, I’m trying really hard not to compare it, but, you know, if you were to want alternatives to warm vintage Chablis or Burgundy or sort of white Rioja or even sort of richer Vinha Verde, this is a great option. You know, it’s £18 50, but I reckon at this price it’s fantastic value.

Susie: Yeah, it’s a lovely kind of wintry white, that one, isn’t it? As we’ve already said, there really are some fantastic value whites coming out of Portugal right now. Now we’ve got a couple of bonus wines each from our interviewees. And first up is the Mendes and Symington Contacto Alvarinho Vinho Verde 2023. So this is a joint venture between Anselmo and the Symingtons of our previous wine It’s £16, imported by Fels in the UK and also available at the wine Society and internationally. And it’s got a lovely attractive orange zest fragrance and then it’s pithy and slightly chalky in the mouth with lovely texture and just, just real rustic charm.

Peter: And I’ve got the Anselmo Mendes Cortimenta Alvarinho vina verde, 2012. So a real treat here. This is the wine that Tiago mentioned. You know, skin contact o caged Alvarinho but 12 years old now and it.

Susie: Blew his away, didn’t you?

Peter: Stunning, captivating, complex aromas of sort of baked cream, fresh bread, blanched nuts, you know, kind of white chocolate. And then the palate is so profound and layered and savoury. You know, if you, if you just knew old school vina verdict, this wine would be shocking, wouldn’t it, you say?

Susie: I mean, no, you mean.

Peter: But I think it’s a sign of what this region can and is doing. You know, it’s major, featuring on steely fresh core and building complexity and, you know, ripeness there as well. They’ve got wonderful complexity from the skins, from the oak. It’s very stylish, very new wave, captivating. And, you know, you can get these older styles. Actually, they are available for sale. Yeah, this one’s delicious.

Susie: So, Heikki I think that gives you a sense of where we stand on these wines. anyway, onto Daniel stuff, I’ve got the Niepoort Consiso Branco 2021 from Da, which is about 38 pounds and it’s brought into the UK by the excellent Halo wines, and in shops like Fortnum’s and Cavist. This is a beautiful wine It’s only 11.5% alcohol, which I love, because then it majors on having this vibrant lemon acidity at its core. It has gorgeous mealy, creamy texture and herbal, waxy, smoky complexity. You know, you rarely get that sort of level, of flavour at that level of alcohol, if you know what I mean. And, it’s a blend of Bcal, Malvasia and encrusado. It is brilliant with food. We know this and we had it with smoked haddock and lovely creamy curried lentils. And it was spot on, wasn’t it?

Peter: Yeah, it was. And I’ve got a wine that Daniel mentioned, the Niepoort Redoma redoma Reserva Branco 2023 from Douro another region making very exciting whites right now. And he told the story about the Burgundians,

00:35:00

Peter: and you can see why they like it. you know, it’s Flinty mineral struck match and nutty in aroma. Then it’s creamy and fresh and savoury and complex. On the palate, it’s very classy and grown up Portuguese white, you know, kind of with a Nord to both the past and the future. You know, made from a blend of ramigato, Codega dell’arinho Viosinho, Don Zelino Arinto. And it just says others on the label. I think, to be honest, they’re just making it up. Like Daniel said, they’re just throwing any. Old names in the pot salad. Anyway, it’s delicious wine

Susie: anyway, one final wine to finish on the Reynolds wine Growers. Julian Reynolds Arinto 2018 from the Alentejo. Now this one’s 100% Arinto. Thank the Lord, because then I don’t have to say any of these other great names. it’s deeply coloured, very generous. It’s a heartwarming style, you know, full of waxy, oily, apricot, kumquat, red apple aromas. And then with that fleshy, chalky, yeasty palette profile. It’s complex and aged, obviously, and intriguing. So characterful and individual. And this is a, a common theme of these great Portuguese whites. They don’t play by the rules. They have to be experienced to be understood and appreciated.

Peter: Yeah, absolutely. And of course the, 2007 antin vase from Reynolds was stunning too, wasn’t it? So these wines can age supremely well in all their different styles and guises. We can’t recommend exploring and discovering these wines highly enough. They are so worth it. And as Tiago hinted, they might not be cheap now, but they’ll almost certainly be going up in price in the future. So perhaps worth getting some in now before that happens.

Susie: Good point. Yes. So we’re going to wrap things up, but I think you’ve got a couple of quick fire tips to throw into the mix before we finish.

Peter: Yes, absolutely. Thank you very much. Just a couple more whites we really enjoyed at Vinho de Casa, the Casa de Pasarella Villa Oliveira Vina, do Provincio do 2012 in Magnum from Paolo Nunes. Also his O Fugitivo Barcelo Branco 2022. And then a couple more whites from Alentejo, both from Tapada do. Chaves Their, Branco 2008. I tried the 1985 of this wine last year and it was stunning. Also their Scala Cheli 2021 which is actually Albariño from the Alentejo. Who knew M and it’s lovely.

Susie: So there we go. Heikki Albariño isn’t just for Vinho Verde. so by way of final summary, Portuguese white wines are well worth discovering. The best are inspired by the country’s indigenous varieties and historic styles to create unique, often characterful, frequently quirky wines that have to be tasted to be believed. They can also age superbly from Vinhoverde to Douro Dao, Bayrada, Alentejo and beyond. Our advice would be to dive in and have some fun.

Peter: Maybe just lock up the guitar and microphone before you do so. Thanks to our interviewees Tiago Mendes and Daniel Niepoort. Thank you also to listeners Heikki and Jenna for sending in those excellent questions which I hope we’ve managed to answer. we’ll put all the wide details, including international availability on our website show notes.

Susie: as ever, please do consider giving us a boost by rating and reviewing the show wherever you’re listening. We really do appreciate it. Even better, share it with a couple of like minded friends for all this and of course for listening. Thank you. Until next time. Cheers.

00:38:22