Filipa Tomaz da Costa would like to make the best white wine in the world. And apart from her vivid passion for white wines, she wants to go further, and make a wine from the Pinot Noir caste, “because it’s a very hard caste to work”.

It was in the early 80’s that Filipa started working with the João Pires company, where she had the opportunity to follow closely some of the more innovative vinification experiments on national soil, such as the maturation in oak barrels or the production of sparkling whites from red grapes. In 1993, Filipa became the director of oenology for the company which presently exists under the name of Bacalhôa Vinhos de Portugal.

The size and dimension of Bacalhôa requires Filipa to work in many wine regions and on many types of wine. “I don’t have any preferences (in what types of wine to produce). Obviously the more still wines, because they are consumed in greater quantities, are the ones that we contact daily and so, inadvertently they are the ones with which we are more involved with”.

On the regions in which she works (Alentejo, Setúbal and Estremadura), she explains that what differs the most between them is the “terroir”.  “This is what will create the difference, because in terms of vinification, the methods are very similar”. Filipa recognises the quality of all three regions. From the Alentejo, “we get new red wines which are potent, embodied and fruity, to which Portugal has been taken aback by the level of quality to price”, she admires the “freshness of the Estremadura wines, which provide a great base for sparkling wines” and in Setúbal she denotes the historic and generous Moscatel wine.

Filipa is of the opinion that Portuguese wine can be successful with any type of consumer as “there is a great quality in the wines that we produce. Just look at all the prizes and awards that Portugal receives in international competitions”. She adds that “with 10 euros to spend, it is probably in the Portuguese wines that you will find the best one”.