This week we travel by glass to the Iberian Peninsula to sip wines from the beautiful vineyards of Portugal. Our guest is our resident sommelier, Ferdy Mucerino, and we'll discuss Portuguese chef Nuno Mendes and Portuguese cuisine while pouring three delicious wines from the Vinho Verde, Tejo, and Duoro regions. Towards the end of the podcast, we'll chat briefly about our favorite podcast-themed television show, Only Murders In the Building on Hulu.
This week we travel by glass to the Iberian Peninsula to sip wines from the beautiful vineyards of Portugal. Our guest is our resident sommelier, Ferdy Mucerino, and we'll discuss Chef Nuno Mendes, cuisine, and wine all hailing from the gorgeous country of Portugal while pouring three delicious selections from the Vinho Verde, Tejo, and Duoro regions.
For our formal tasting, we begin with 2020 Mar Azul Vinho Verde D.O.C., a spritzy white blend from the Vinho Verde region. Next up is 2019 Tercius Vinho Tinto Tejo, a red blend created by the award-winning winemaker Antonia Barbosa. Finally, we pour 2019 Mentor Red Blend Douro D.O.C., a special red blend from the Duoro region made by the van Zeller family who has been producing port wine since 1715, with 14 consecutive generations involved in the wine trade.
At 27:00 minutes, towards the end of the podcast, Ferdy and Kristin reveal themselves to be Arconiacs, Only Murders In the Building on Hulu, and we'll chat briefly about this favorite podcast-themed television show.
Sniff Sip Repeat is brought to you by Wine Insiders, leaders in online wine. Wine Insiders makes buying great wine easy. Founded in 1982 as a club for California wine enthusiasts, Wine Insiders now offers high-quality wines from around the world for the best value and conveniently shipped to your door in just days. The collection is curated by a host of food and wine industry and lifestyle experts, such as Martha Stewart, Chef Geoffrey Zakarian, and Chef Ludo Lefebvre. Learn more about the wines or shop now to taste alongside our podcast guests.
Visit http://www.wineinsiders.com to learn more.
Visit Bahr restaurant at the Bairro Alto Hotel to taste the cuisine of Chef Nuno Mendes.
Sound effects obtained from https://www.zapsplat.com
Transcript:
Kristin:
From Wine Insiders this is Sniff Sip Repeat, a monthly podcast for lively discussions all about wine. In each episode, we'll be speaking with industry experts from vineyards and tasting rooms, to restaurant and retail to give you a little inspiration for what to pour next.
I'm your host, Kristin, and I've worked in the wine industry for many years now. And I'm excited for in conversations with my peers directly to you. Are you ready? Let's take a sip.
My guest today is Fernando neutrino. Our resident somm at Wine Insiders who host the video series Inside Wine With Ferdy. Prior to working with us Ferdy was Wine Director and Sommelier at some of the best restaurants in the U.S. I'm really excited to have him here today because we are about to talk about two of our favorite things, wine and podcasts. Today on the show, we're going to talk about Portuguese wines and we're going to taste three from the collection. So welcome Ferdy. Thank you so much for joining me.
Ferdy:
Hi Kristin. Thank you so much for having me again on your podcast.
Kristin:
Today's topic I'm really excited about. We're actually going to talk about Portugal and at the end of the podcast, we're going to talk a little bit about podcasting, but we're going to start with Portugal. I've actually never been there. So I'm really looking forward to hearing more from you.
Ferdy:
Well, I never been to Portugal either, although it is there a ton of Portuguese wines throughout my career. Uh, and I think Portugal is on my bucket list as far as a wine destination or a place to go because they're, they have a rich history of wine-making and they have kept their traditions throughout the centuries. So it's a very fascinating country. As far as wine goes,
Kristin:
I'm really excited to visit it too. I think it's on my bucket list. I have friends from in the nineties, I lived in San Francisco and I had a friend Nuno Mendes, who I actually went to his graduation from the culinary academy. He has gone on to become a very famous chef. He is one of the chefs behind Chiltern Firehouse in London, but he also has his own restaurant Bahr in Lisbon. So I'm going to have to add that to my bucket list. I was actually thinking of going to London before COVID hit, and I thought I'm going to look up Nuno and go eat dinner. And now I'm like, you know what? I'm going to look them up in Lisbon. And I'm going to go to his restaurant in Lisbon. That looks amazing. I remember him and his friends talking a lot about Portugal, the beautiful architecture, the beautiful art. And I know there's so much amazing food and he was an amazing chef. I ate many a meal that he cooked. So I can't wait to get a little bit more intimate with the cuisine during this podcast. But most importantly, as you said the wine. So I think one thing that maybe we can start the discussion with just the elephant in the room, if you will, most people know Portugal for port wine. So I do think we should talk for a few minutes about port wine before moving onto wines. We're going to taste.
Ferdy:
Absolutely. You can. You can talk about Portuguese wine. If you're going to address the elephant in the room, which is what is Portugal known for, which is port and Madera to fortified wines. So first why fortified wines? Why are there so special? Um, in the early 17 hundreds, the British empire, they were in a trade war with France and France decided to cut them off of the distribution of wine. They said, okay, we'll put an embargo and you are getting normal wines from us. So the British started looking elsewhere for wine and they had their eyes on Portugal since Italy wasn't accessible for them. And Spain was in political turmoil. So they went to Portugal and they started exploring Portugal. They started from the north in the region called Vinho Verde and their wines were great, but they were white wines. Mostly they were too light and acidic.
Ferdy:
It wasn't appealing to the British palate. Then they went to the door, which is further south, uh, and they discovered these amazing wines. They are mostly red wines, but there were very big, bold. Then I'll steer. They called them the black strap wines. So they, uh, explore a little bit more, went to a monastery and noticed that the monks in this monastery were adding spirits to the wines in order to stabilize the wine, stop the fermentation and achieve a desire level of sweetness. So that made the first fortified wine and, uh, afforded an a two pinning port because the closest city to the door or region is port or portal. Um, that's what afforded five wine is four to five. Wines are a regular still wines that in the middle of fermentation, still spirits are added to in order to stop the fermentation and preserve the wine, make it last longer, make it, give longevity and give that to flavor. So by stopping the fermentation, what you do is that you stop the alcohol, the sugar turning into alcohol. So you can get these sweet and lush wines that are also very boozy and long lasting. So it's a win-win and those, those became the wine of choice for the British empire for the early colonies in America. So our founding fathers were big port and Madera drinkers. So that, that was actually the first time that Portugal took the world by storm with their wines.
Kristin:
That's really interesting. That makes sense to me because I think of it as a very elegant alternative to Brandy almost so I can see it being very popular in drawing rooms in that era.
Ferdy:
Oh yeah. Nowadays I can say that the, the best after dinner, after, after dinner drink would be a nice class support, uh, the perfect companion for a cheese plate. I love port some of the oldest wines on the market are poured some Madeira. They can age for hundreds of years, if you could find one that old.
Kristin:
And it's interesting that they discovered it in a monastery, I feel as though many of the best origins of wine stories have something to do with the monastery. Yes. There's always a monastery in the, in the, in the backstory
Ferdy:
Sort of off the top of my head champagnes. I mean, sparkling wines, burgundy. Absolutely. They all came from monasteries.
Kristin:
So one of the things we often do on this podcast is talk about the grapes that are native to our region. And I think Portugal is very, it seems very unique to me in that there are so many unfamiliar grape varietals that when I went to do research in this episode, I read a little bit about how the Portuguese wine making did evolve somewhat in isolation. So while they probably do make wines out of Chardonnay and Pinot and popular grapes, they also just have a lot of native grapes that no one has ever heard of elsewhere. And so I think every time I look on a one wine menu and I've seen enough wine now at this point that like, I'm, I'm still surprised by the varietals that I see in blends. And I don't actually know many of them. Can you speak a little bit about the grape varietals that would be native to Portugal and what people can look for?
Ferdy:
Absolutely. So there are, there are over 250 native grapes to Portugal, and they're both red and white grapes grapes, like for whites to have [inaudible], uh, pleasure Duda because in, uh, in Portuguese, you, the, the J is not silent. So [inaudible], [inaudible], uh, you have Albariño, which is similar to Spanish, uh,
Albariño. Um, then for reds, you have grapes that are, uh, called to Regan as you now to Riga franca [inaudible], which is Tempranillo in Spain. You have Casta allow Aravo Nash, which is also temporary, uh, but, um, um, beautiful, beautiful grapes and beautiful wines made out of these grapes. I say, I feel like for white wines, uh, what you should expect out of a poach to these white, it's always a sense of freshness. I said, citrusy notes, a refreshing, uh, and sharp laser sharp wines for reds. What I always associate with, uh, Portuguese red is a dusty quality to it, which is funny because pork is always, uh, always had the dustiness to about maybe, uh, there must come from a portion of his grapes because when I drink a red from Portugal, it always said the dusty element. And I love that because I love a combination of earthy and fruity.
Kristin:
Well, you've got me excited to start tasting wine. Should we taste a few?
Ferdy:
We should. We should.
Kristin:
I'm really excited to start with the 20, 20 Marzel Vina Vera de doc. We've actually talked about this wine just a little bit on a previous podcast, because it was part of our clubs shipment. Now it's part of the store, but I'm excited to hear your thoughts on it because I know you're a big fan of Vina Verdi.
Ferdy:
Absolutely. I love being your there. Um, one of my absolute favorite wines in general there, this region is the Northern most region of Portugal wine, regional Portugal. Um, it is known and it has been known in history for making this low alcohol, slightly fuzzy white wines, also roses in some reds, but always easy and low in alcohol. And that's because it is a region it's wet and humid, and it's a place in which wines don't fully ripen. So they make the wines very early and they release them very earlier in the past, the ones was, the wines were bottled before the end of malolactic fermentation. So there was a, there was a little bit of fermentation going on in the bottle and the bottles acquired that fizziness nowadays, that business has been, uh, achieved through the addition of CO2. And it's just a slight fizz, which is anytime we call that [inaudible], uh, and it's just lovely. It's so food friendly, the wines are generally citrusy and, um, uh, CGC and fresh. This one in particular is a blend or Laredo for the majority. Then there's a touch of treasure [inaudible] and I love it. It smells like Meyer lemons, rhyme, a little bit of Kiwi, some, some, uh, white flowers, delicious wine, perfect for an aperitif perfect for salads or fruit salads. Shellfish.
Kristin:
I remember talking about this wine a little bit with Tyson when it was in the clubs shipment. And one of the things that occurred to me was I think this is the kind of wine that I could bring to a party at home. I grew up in a beach town and I used to wait tables at an oyster bar and in a Caribbean restaurant. And a lot of the food that we served was a lot of shellfish, fresh fish. And I feel like there might be some similarities because I know that Portuguese cuisine probably does have a lot of element of seafood to it. So I feel like this line would be perfect even with dishes I'm I I've eaten growing up stop that
Ferdy:
Th there are 550 miles of coastline in Portugal. So I would say seafood is most likely the stable or they're accusing.
Kristin:
Yeah. Okay. That white wine was delicious. Let's move on to the reds. First step, we have 2019 Tersus Spino Tinto Tahoe. This is a delicious red blend. It's also a platinum, a metal winning wine, which is really exciting. It's made of four
Ferdy:
Grapes. I'm not even gonna try to pronounce them. I'll let you go ahead. All right. We have the, uh, this is that this is the tertiary Mead in the [inaudible] region. So the grapes, the grapes are cast. They allow or cash. They allow Arago Nash, which is a synonymous synonymous of, uh, Semper Neal. Then there's three Cordero and [inaudible], which is the most important grip Portugal. I love this wine. There's a reason why as a platinum award winner wine, uh, this wine is if they, if I was to say one word to describe this one will be balanced. This is a fantastic blend. It offers a multi, a multilayered experience. You get fruit, or you get some, um, um, aromatics from the barrel. It's a, it's a one that's, uh, not only it's an easy wine to drink, but it's also a fantastic point for food pairings pairings, because it's so balanced. It's medium bodied, medium alcohol, medium tannins. It's very versatile. I mean, all these different ones. So when I think of a wine like this, just to give you an idea, um, this is the perfect wine for Thanksgiving.
Ferdy:
You have your platelets filled with a multitude of flavors. You have, you have, you know, if you, if you do not traditional American Thanksgiving dinner, you have Turkey, you have cranberry sauce, stuffing, mashed potatoes, corn yams, with, uh, with marshmallows, sweet sour, tangy, you have all of them. This is a wine, that's a no brainer. It covers everything appears with everything because it's just easy going and easy and, and food friendly. This is one of those wines. That's quintessentially jammy. Isn't that right? It is. It is. It is, it is definitely on a fruity or side. It's more fruit driven and Dasia is an important wine region in Portugal because it is the oldest wine region in Portugal. Um, it was, uh, first cultivated by the finishing munitions. So 4,000 years ago, um, and it is visual. It's the cultural hub, the agricultural as a cultural, the agricultural, uh, hub of Portugal. So here fun fact about Portugal. Did you know that Portugal was the second, most, the second biggest producer of rice in the world? I did not know that. Okay. So outside of China, Portugal produces the most rice in the world, and that is Oak and it is all cultivated here in Asia region, um, along along, so Tasia means tigers tigers is what we call the river that crosses these, uh, this region. And not only you go second find facts about Portugal. Portugal is also the largest industrial producer of tomatoes.
Kristin:
Oh, okay. Wow. So I don't think I realized that either right.
Ferdy:
And seafood. We already had three staples of the Portuguese diet.
Kristin:
Fantastic. I just, this already sounds like a delicious dinner that I want to eat, and this could be my Portuguese Thanksgiving year. Maybe that's what I should do this year.
Ferdy:
And speed. Actually. I just remember speaking of seafood, uh, uh, Portuguese fun fact, number three, they're called or Bacalao, uh, are they call him in Portugal at the time where the British were, uh, uh, trading in port wine Bacalao was also as important as port one as well. So it was almost a currency. Wow. So the, the two major exports and the British was taking off or pigging all over the colonies were Bacalao or salted Cod and wine. Okay.
Kristin:
Hearing more about Portugal, I'm definitely going to need to go for a visit to sounds like a fantastic place to have dinner and drink. Before we move on to the next one. Can you give us a little bit of a backstory on the winery and the wine maker?
Ferdy:
Absolutely. Uh, her name is Antonio Barbosa, as we mentioned, she's an award winning winemaker. Uh, her vineyard not only is certified organic and sustainable, but she, they have a special way of, uh, treating the vineyard every morning. Her crew walks around the vineyard, pruning, extra, extra branches, cutting extra leaves, orienting the grapes towards the sun and at the bottom of the vineyard, there's these large pebbles from the river. And that facilitates drainage absorb the heat during the day and release. It says during the night, it's a, it's a beautiful vineyard. It's one of the most, uh, uh, characteristics vineyards that we have in our portfolio. It's a beautiful place to visit and a spectacular breathtaking pictures. You can take there.
Kristin:
I love to hear that because I think sometimes you can taste it in the wine, but it's just so fun to hear the narrative about where it comes from. And
Ferdy:
You could say that about Portuguese wines, they're very terroir driven what I was saying about that dusty quality to it. If you, when you, I never been to Portugal, but when I think of Portugal, I do think of, you know, beautiful beaches and, and, uh, there are called, uh, terracotta stone baked by the sun. It gives it almost tastes like a little dusty and sunbathe. So you, you taste that in the wine. So wines from Portugal, very terroir driven.
Kristin:
So for our listeners, we're going to talk next about 2019 mentor red blend from Douro doc and Freddy you've mentioned Duetto. Hopefully I'm pronouncing that correctly. Do you want to talk a little bit more about that region since it is so important? And then tell us a little bit about this wine?
Ferdy:
Absolutely. So the daughter is the region we're port is me. Um, but port is not the only, uh, kind of wine that is made in that world. There's a lot of steel, wide red and Rosa wines that are made there. The Douro, it can be considered one of the oldest delineated wine regions in the world. It was, uh, it was actually declared a protected wine region in 1756. So it is, they say, it's the oldest in the world. I, as an Italian, I'm going to say it's the second oldest, because Canty was, uh, was demarcated in 13 in the 13 hundreds. So about 1756, it's a very long time for a wine region to be, uh, established. And this is the, uh, as far as, uh, uh, as beauty goes, it's another point for Portugal. These vineyards are so beautiful, they're they? They are declared a UNESCO side. So it's, uh, um, there, there it's the largest mountainous area, the more mountainous vineyard in the world. Um, just to give you a perspective, it is four times larger than Napa valley.
Kristin:
Wow. Napa valley is not
Ferdy:
Small. It's not small. So the Duardo is four times larger than Napa valley. Um, one thing I love about the mentor is that a concept of sustainability, which is impartial, is it's taken, it's taken too. It's taken very seriously. Um, so the mentor, this wine is aged in used port barrels. So instead of discarding of these barrels, they use them to make steel lines and what it does, and it offers you one more layer of flavor. So you get this wine that is already delicious. This is a blend of Riga franca to Regan, as you now, Tito cow and Tito Reese, which are also the most famous grapes to make port with. Uh, but this is a still wine is not a dessert fortified wine. It's a steel wine. Uh, I love this is like the definition of dusty. Like when you smell it, it smells like an old piece of wood. That's been brushed with fruit. It's almost like you, you, you spread marmalade on an old piece of wood. I know, try to visualize that I'm thinking
Kristin:
Of like sustainable plates made out of old pork barrels,
Ferdy:
Or you can
Kristin:
Moving on from bamboo. We'll use old port and it's gonna just, it's going to be marmalade.
Ferdy:
And it also has these notes of a sweet tobacco and leather, and it's a delicious wine, and it's not as big as you can imagine. Like when I'm describing this wine and being in being full of tenants and being aged in a pork barrel, you may think this is a full body, big one, but it's actually medium bodied. There's a great amount of acid. So another wine that's food friendly. And another one that could be, for example, a great alternative to a port, which is, uh, generally speaking, 18 to 25% alcohol. So something a little lighter, but with the same intensity of flavor,
Kristin:
One of the other things I like about this wine is talking about narratives and backstory the wine. I understand that this one is made by the van cellar family and that they have been producing port wine since 1715. Apparently they've had 14 consecutive generations of wine makers in their family. That's really impressive.
Ferdy:
Yeah. What a legacy like where to keep it, where to keep it in a family. And they were there from, they were there from the very beginning. Absolutely.
Kristin:
So I feel like when you pour a glass of this wine, there's just so much to talk about it. The Thanksgiving dinner table, you can talk about it for 20 minutes. It has such a story behind it.
Ferdy:
Absolutely.
Kristin:
So we've tried three really amazing wines from our collection. And I hope that our listeners are going to be able to discover the taste of Portugal and these wines. Thanks for sharing all your insights. I do have one more thing to ask you about Portugal. So I understand that Portugal has a region where most of the cork used worldwide is harvested and cork is obviously an integral part of winemaking and bottling and packaging since the earliest days. So can you tell me a little bit more about that?
Ferdy:
Oh yes. Fun fact number four, number four, we owe it to Portugal for having courts in our wines all over the world. Portugal is the biggest supplier of cork. So the region is called [inaudible]. So, um, [inaudible] was the, uh, the one region that we were discussing on our second wine or the terrorist, the wine region right below it's called Allan treasure, which in Portuguese means below the treasure. So below the tigers river, and they have the biggest forests of cork. And, uh, that's actually one of the most sustainable practice in agriculture, in, uh, in Portugal. Uh, cork tree does not have to be cut down in order for us, the harvest cork, what all, all they need to do is to shave it down. So once you, so the, the processes, you plan the tree, it takes 25 years for the, the tree to develop in order for you to harvest some cork.
Ferdy:
And then after you harvest the cork. So after you remove a layer of bark, it takes them more years for the, for the, uh, for tree to be ready. So, yeah, let's talk about visuals again, when you look at a freshly shaved, um, freshly shaved court three, uh, and this is a big forest of them. Imagine poodle legs. He always reminds me of that when I see pictures of it, because you see these like beautifully shaped, almost like pinkish looking, uh, three bark with this big or leave some top. So a giant, a giant forest, the poodle legs. Um, but at any given point at every given time, every year, we have enough supplies to cork all our wines for a hundred years. So that's how big the production is an hour and are repeats itself how sustainable it is. So it's great. It's actually fun fact, number five in Portugal, if you are, uh, if you work in the agricultural industry, shaving core trees is one of the most lucrative jobs really,
Kristin:
But you can only do it every 10 years. No, just kidding. No, I'm kidding. So that's interesting. I knew that it came from the bark. I don't think I realized you have to wait 25 years to the tree to be ready, and then you wait 10 in between. So it is sustainable, but wow, you, you really have to be strategic and shave the tree, a different vineyard, I guess, every year and you just kind of rotate. And then every 10 years you come back around that that is a lot of work. I can see why it's a good job.
Ferdy:
And it's hard to keep up to. Yeah. Which three is which
Kristin:
You don't want to shave a baby tree that would just be baby cork,
Ferdy:
Maybe that's for split bottles. And
Kristin:
That's where all the like corked wine comes from the corks are shaved too early. Okay. So that's interesting. I knew I had heard about that. And, and I know that years ago there were many years ago, there was a fire and, you know, it was dramatic because I guess it makes sense now that if there is a fire in any bit of it is damaged much like a frost, you know, with, uh, a wine vintage, you are, you are kind of out of luck until the next year when you have the next year's harvest. So that's really interesting, but I liked that it is sustainable also. I think unfortunately, sometimes people have moved away from the traditional cork, but it is definitely the most sustainable option.
Ferdy:
One of the most sustainable, there are also other sustainable practices, but for old fashion, old fashioned wine drinkers, like me, nothing replaces the sound of popping a cork. And, uh, I do, I do appreciate the, uh, the, our easy, uh, screw top is and, uh, any other way of, uh, of, uh, enclosing a bottle. And I mean, of course doesn't mean the wine is better
Kristin:
Now, but it's just
Ferdy:
Something magical to me about
Kristin:
It's more romantic, a screw top. Let's be honest. I'm old fashioned. Yeah, me too. Me too. Okay. We've talked a lot about Portugal today. Thank you so much for it. There is something else I want to talk to you about since you are my partner in crime, on his podcast most days and it's podcasts. So yesterday was international podcast day. I'm very excited to be doing this podcast with you by the way. And I think you and I have another thing that we have in common. We are both obsessed with the Hulu show. Only word is in this building, is that right?
Ferdy:
And we are, we are, we can stop talking about it.
Kristin:
And so
Ferdy:
I need to know murder.
Kristin:
I know me too, who murdered him? Kono I have my ideas. We can't talk too much about it though, because I don't want to give spoilers to our audience or anyone listening, because the show is so fun to follow along and sleuth as you go, my daughter and I, after every episode discuss it. So, but I do want to talk about what I love about it is that much, like if you were a wine enthusiast and you have a passion for wine, if you have a passion for podcasts, the show is terrific. It get each episode. Even the title just feels like a podcast episode, and you need one, you get a special angle on all of the characters in it. And I really love what they've done with it and have to say, I'm a huge dude. I was already a huge Steve Martin fan, you know, obviously growing up, you know, he had movies and appearances on Saturday night live as yes.
Kristin:
And there were so many things I grew up with. But then even in the nineties, like when I lived in San Francisco, I was telling you that I that's, when I met Nuno Mendez, when he was at the culinary academy. Well also in the nineties, I remember going to see a play like an opening night of a play Picasso at the LA Lubana zeal. I don't even remember why we got tickets. And it was so funny and it turned out it was written and produced, I think by Steve Martin. And I Googled it this week because I wanted to remember correctly. I was like, didn't I see that. And it didn't list the San Francisco opening. So I'm pretty sure Steve, Martin's not listening to this podcast, but he's probably the only one that can answer this question. But I want to know if I actually attended the opening.
Kristin:
I think what they did was they were putting the, putting it on in Chicago and they were doing a trial run in San Francisco. And I went to the first night of it and it was the funniest thing ever. And yeah, so anyway, he's a very talented writer and he, he it's, the whole thing takes place in a bar, you know, in Paris. And it's like Albert Einstein meets Picasso and they're having this very high brown discussion. And it's all about the great minds of the 20th century. And then in walks the third, most memorable person from the 20th century, you'll never guess who it was, it was a spoiler, but the play is not in production right now. So then at the end in walks Elvis. So I know it was the most charming play. Like I had to say, I was, it was amazing. So kudos to see Martin, everything he does, I think is magic. So if you're listening to this, I just, and I want to thank Hulu. This is not a paid for comment. I just am such a fan. So thank you for the show. It's been such a breath of fresh air, this Susan,
Ferdy:
Such a great show. So new, so refreshing to have a new story. Yeah. And, uh, the anticipation for the next episode. My goodness.
Kristin:
So I think you and I should pair wines to each of the characters. And I'm going to ask you to pair wines, right? Tell me what you think. So Steve Martin classic, sophisticated, a little bit of a, has been on the show, his character. What wine would he be drinking? Do you think he would be something traditional, like burgundy? Or is he going to be kind of like a surprise?
Ferdy:
You got that right out of my mouth and you will be, it will be a grand Cru.
Kristin:
Absolutely. He would be a grand Cru burgundy. Okay. So now let's talk about Martin Short's character. He is quite the new Yorker, quite a show, man, what is he drinking?
Ferdy:
He's my favorite, by the way, in the show, I just love every, every line is just to me, it's an incentive laugh. He's just like,
Kristin:
And he's, and he's a dog lover. I love that. He has a dog. There's a little drama with dogs. We won't spoil it, but
Ferdy:
So you will probably be, I want to go. You will be a reasoning.
Kristin:
That's, that's a pretty good choice. He would be a reasonable
Ferdy:
Thinking. You will be a reasoning cause he could be, it could be anything. It could be, it could be sweet. It could be dry. It could be, it could be a, uh, long lasting or it could be. Short-lived like, he's always unpredictable.
Kristin:
So I was thinking he's such a showy person and he's all about appearances. I was thinking champagne, but I like wrestling because actually it's such a, um, delicious and surprising wine every time. And you never get disappointed. And I feel like his character, you'd never get disappointed. Everything he chooses to do, even the car
Ferdy:
There's so many styles. Absolutely great.
Kristin:
Yeah. Okay. Last character who might actually be my favorite, I think, uh, Selena Gomez on the show. I mean, what a, what a fantastic character. So what is she drinking? And I don't want to be ageist and because she's young and think that, you know, she would just be drinking Moscato, like, because she's actually kind of very clever, very brave, very confident on the show. So, I mean, I have some thoughts about it, but I want to hear from you. What do you think she would be drinking?
Ferdy:
She would be a pet nut.
Kristin:
Ooh, good call. Okay.
Ferdy:
Okay. She is bubbly, but not as pretentious as a sophisticated bubble. So she is, she is, and she is mysterious. Abednego is mysterious. It could be, it could be super sparkly and it could be a little on the flatter side. Uh, it could be made by or on, by so many different grapes. It's just unpredictable. And at the end of the day is always great.
Kristin:
I was going to say a bone dry musket day
Ferdy:
Because
Kristin:
She's, her humor is so dry, but muscular is also one of those wines where you really have to know a little something about wine to even know, to order it. And I'm like, she seems to know a little something about everything. Like she really is like tapped in. So I'm, I'm, I'm going to go with Muscatine with her. But
Ferdy:
I think I like yours better. I got to change that too.
Kristin:
Uh, yeah. Although, you know, I do think she was drinking lot. I don't want to ruin anything on the episode. There was an episode where I think she was sort of sitting precariously on the roof, drinking a champagne baby, but I'll have to rewatch it. It might've, it, maybe it was a musket and a coupe glass. Okay. We've had a wonderful discussion about Portugal today. So thank you very much for Verde. This has been fantastic and I'm excited for our listeners to be able to try the wines in the collection and have a little bit more info on them. And thanks also for your commentary on only murders. Um, I'm hoping that we can chat about this when the season's over and, and talk more.
Ferdy:
Yes. Maybe we'll tie it into the next episode. Bye. Thank you so much for having me. It's been such a pleasure.
Kristin:
It's been so great. So thank you very much for it. And I'll talk to you soon and to everyone else, listening tears. If you find yourself in Lisbon, stop by the Barrow Alto hotel to taste Nuno Mendez authentic cuisine at bar restaurant today in the podcast, we tasted three great wines from Portugal. 2020 Martinez. It'll be near their day doc 2019 Tershia Spino Tinto Teo 2019 mentor red blend Duetto doc, to get a discount on these wines, enter the code port wine@wineinsiders.com leaders in online wine, where you get better wine delivered in just days.
Speaker 3:
Well, look up here.