Wine, Ocean, and Mountains with Jessica Goncalves

If you’re looking for an incredible spot to add to your wine-tasting itinerary, this gorgeous island is absolutely one to consider. Plus, with a conversational wine expert tour guide to aid you in selecting the ideal wine to complement your culinary journey, you can’t go wrong. 

Let’s join Jessica now in exploring the picturesque little island where she lives and learn something about Madeira’s wine industry.

What you will learn from this episode:

• Discover the island of Madeira and what it offers to locals and tourists alike apart from its excellent wines.
• Gain insight into the topography, geography and all the wonderful details of this picturesque island, ideal for wine tasting and culinary explorations, as well as land and water adventures.
• Find out why paying attention to wine aromas is a good way to start tasting wines to understand and appreciate them.
• Learn about the best tips to make the most out of your visit to this charming little island.
• Discover the best Madeira wine varieties that go perfectly well with any savoury and traditional Madeiran meat and fish cuisine.
  

Jessica Goncalves is a 28-year-old Madeiran, born and raised on the island. She studied tourism and adventure tourism in Portugal in the cities of Coimbra and Lisbon. At the moment she’s working at Quinta do Barbusano on Madeira as a tour guide where she learned a lot about wine. She enjoys meeting people and showing them her beautiful vineyards and having them taste the wine they make.

Connect with Jessica Goncalves through info@winebehindthescenes.com

Topics Covered:

01:58 – Where Jessica and Laurel’s paths first crossed and the two seasons this beautiful place has

03:30 – Living on this beautiful island forever [interesting wine courses she studied and places she went to for studies]

04:21 – What made her choose her field of study

05:48 – The motivation that drove her to work in a winery and the way it has helped her progress and expand her understanding of wine and the business.

07:19 – Having fun while learning and doing her job

09:08 – The beautiful thing about sharing stories, experiences, and wisdom with visitors.

09:42 – Farm animals allowed to stay in the vineyard and ways they ward off fungus and other diseases

10:43 – The challenges of cultivating organic grapes
11:18 – How she learned to taste wine and appreciate and identify the aroma
13:01 – Evoking stories and experiences

14:16 – Barrels used for the fermentation process

14:27 – What she finds satisfying working in the wine industry
14:42 – Where you can find this beautiful winery found in this awesome island

16:17 – Exciting activities you can do in Madeira and sharing best tips so you can make the most of your visit there

19:30 – What to love about their beaches [plus traditional Madeiran food you can try and the perfect ]

22:04 – How Madeiran wines have become exceptional through the years

23:43 – Other stunning islands around Madeira that are worth exploring [and how to get there]

Quotes from Jessica Goncalves:

“We are more close to Morocco than Portugal.”

“I studied tourism, in general,  in Coimbra for three years. And then in Lisbon I took a degree in adventure tourism.”

“The sheep, they only eat the leaves. They eat the grapes as well if we let them.”

“At the beginning, I just opened the wine and I was like smelling the wine for more than 10 minutes.”

“Now it’s kind of normal for me to go and smell the wine and try to find new things.”

“We have mostly stainless steel fermentation, but we use a French oak as well.”

“If you take care about the shoes that you’re using, the clothes and everything, the timing as well that you are doing that hikes, you’ll be totally fine.”

“You need to go out and explore and talk to Madeiran people to see what the island is.”

“You always need a jacket and your swimsuit.”

“Bolo do caco. That’s traditional Madeira bread.”

“Now you can find very good wines, table wines in Madeira.”

“We are very close to Porto Santo, but Porto Santo, the weather, the soil, it’s very, very different.”