Portugal's Fine Wines: Here Be Treasures

Wine Blast with Susie and Peter

We all know port. But there’s a whole universe of fine Portuguese table wine out just waiting to be explored. It’s far less known but certainly no less exciting…so we dive in.
Peter’s fired up after a recent trip to host a masterclass in Porto, where he tasted wines back to 1978 and recorded with a selection of Portugal’s top wine talent, from Dirk and Daniel Niepoort to Sandra Tavares, Luis Pato, Susana Esteban and Tomas Roquette.
Once back, he made sure to call in some special wines to taste and share on air, including the legendary Barca Velha, Portugal’s most famous red – a wine that launched a thousand bottles… It’s not a wine you get to see very often, let alone taste, so this is a privileged insight.
Let’s not beat around the bush: this is a tasting featuring a healthy amount of disagreement. These are undoubtedly fine, characterful, often intriguing wines – but they can (clearly) polarise opinion. We explore the reasons why.
Also featured in this episode are (sometimes anguished) listener feedback about our Santorini mini-series, the ‘Porta 6 effect’, Maserati, roof-hoping, Javier Bardem, field blends, ozone, and a €1,000 magnum.
Peter gets a blind-wine challenge live on air – and we also touch on how to lose €10m with one word…
Wines tasted in this episode

• Luis Pato Vinhas Velhas Branco 2022, Bairrada, 13%
• Susana Esteban Procura Branco 2020, Alentejano, 13%
• Niepoort Redoma Branco 2021, Douro, 11.5%
• Meandro do Vale Meão 2020, Douro, 14%
• Mouchão Tonel 3-4 2013, Alentejo, 14.5%
• Barca Velha 2011, Douro, 14.5%

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All details from this episode are on our website: Show notes for Wine Blast S4 E21: Portugal's Fine Wines - Here Be Treasures.
Thanks for tuning in. Here's to the joy of wine - cheers to you!

Chapters

1. Portugal's Fine Wines: Here Be Treasures (00:00:00)

2. Welcome (00:00:05)

3. Why we're doing this episode (00:00:16)

4. What's coming up in this programme (00:01:26)

5. Listener comments on our Santorini mini-series (00:02:07)

6. Peter's sounding a bit Barry White (00:03:34)

7. It all started with a gift... (00:05:56)

8. The 'Porta 6 effect' (00:06:29)

9. Dirk Niepoort on the similarities between South Africa and Portugal (00:08:09)

10. On Portugal's recent history (00:08:27)

11. Setting the scene for this episode: Vinho da Casa (00:11:03)

12. Tomas Roquette of Quinta do Crasto (00:13:19)

13. Portugal's unique grape varieties (00:17:33)

14. On the importance of field blends (00:18:48)

15. Susana Esteban (00:19:54)

16. Mid-programme BREAK (00:22:52)

17. To recap so far... (00:22:52)

18. Sandra Tavares (00:23:01)

19. Daniel Niepoort (00:27:32)

20. Peter gets a blind wine challenge... (00:27:43)

21. Dirk Niepoort (00:31:48)

22. We taste top Portuguese wines! (00:34:42)

23. Tasting Barca Velha (00:44:01)

24. Summary recap (00:49:18)

25. Outro (00:49:57)