Special Episode! Meet the (Wine) Makers #3: Rita Pinto of Quinta do Pinto Wines, & Guests Nossa Imports! (Wines from Portugal, Family-run winery, sustainable and low intervention wine)

Show Notes

Special Episode! Meet the (Wine) Makers #3: Rita Pinto and Nossa Imports! 00:00

Hi Everyone! Welcome to a special episode of The Wine Pair Podcast - where I give Carmela a little break - and I get the chance to interview people who are actually involved in making wine! This week I am talking to Rita Pinto, CEO of Quinta do Pinto winery in Portugal, and Dale and Stephen Ott, owners of Nossa Imports who are helping to bring wines from Rita and other winemakers in Portugal and Mexico into the United States. Stay tuned for this wonderful and enlightening interview.

Introduction to the interview 00:35

Hello, and welcome to The Wine Pair Podcast! I’m Joe, your sommelier of reasonably priced wine, and for this special episode, I am on my own as my wine pairing partner in crime is taking care of other things - probably making cakes for her Baby Cakes business.

Now, as a quick orientation to our podcast, what we usually do in each episode is learn about, taste, and review three wines that are reasonably priced, which means under $20, and should be easy to find. However, for this special set of episodes, we will interview people who are involved in actually making wine. Sometimes, like today, those wines don’t necessarily fall into the reasonably priced range. But that’s ok! Because part of what we want to do with our podcast is to educate ourselves and you on different aspects of wine knowledge in a fun, entertaining, and unstuffy way, even fun and entertaining as Decanter magazine has called our podcast, and that is what we are doing today!

In a minute, you’ll hear my interview with Rita Pinto of Quinta do Pinto and Dale and Stephen Ott of Nossa Imports - Rita

And a small plug before we get to the interview - if you like what you are hearing or are interested in hearing our other “regular” episodes, please subscribe to our podcast so you can hear more - especially since you are only getting one half of The Wine Pair Podcast in this episode!

Ok, let’s get to the interview with Rita

Rita Pinto Interview, Dale Ott and Stephen Ott Inteview 01:55

Well hello Everyone - and welcome to The Wine Pair Podcast. 

We have a great group of people here today that we are really excited to talk to! I am joined by Dale and Stephen Ott from Nossa (Noe-ssa) Imports, and we have Rita Pinto from Quinta do Pinto winery who is our special guest and the focus of our interview today. Thank you so much for being here!

Ok, before we talk to Rita, I want to hand the virtual microphone over to the Otts to give us a little information about their company Nossa Imports, and how they are bringing great wines to the US from Mexico and Portugal, and where we can buy Quinta do Pinto wines in particular

• Why the focus on Mexico and Portugal in particular?

Thank you very much for that, Dale and Stephen! 

So,now I am going to turn our attention to Rita. Rita, thank you so much for joining us today. We are so happy you are here. 

• Rita, I would love to just start talking about you a bit. Would you mind telling our listeners a little bit about you - you have such a fascinating background - and then we can talk about how you got into winemaking. 
• Was winemaking something you felt destined to do, or did you ever resist it? 
  • You said when you were younger you did not like wine at all. But your parents had the wine estate, and both of your parents grew up in wine making families - is that correct? So, is it surprising to find yourself here now, running a winery?
• What do you think defines you as a winemaker and makes you and your wines special, and how could people who drink your wines discover them?
  • You are a woman owned and operated winery. Is that unique in Portugal? Where do you find support? 
  • You also mentioned you ferment in very old cement tanks and that you do not add extra yeast.How does that impact your wines?
• Do you lean more towards the art or the science of wine (or both)?
  • Your wines are sustainable. You also mentioned to me that you do micro zoning and that you have a protocol with Lisbon and Montpellier University.  Explain what that means, and why do you think that is important? What does a minimum intervention approach mean? 
  • In your notes to me, you said: I especially love the slow winemaking process and how small we are when we put ourselves next to Mother Nature.
  • You went back to school to get your masters in viticulture and you had your undergrad in business administration. Which do you think has been more important to you in running the winery?
  • You mentioned you have 27 different grapes, which is also a very interesting characteristic about our wines. We blend the traditional Lisbon grapes - some typical to Portuguese wine and some particular to Quinta do Pinto - with some international grapes. That's something unique about our wines and our winery too.
• What’s something surprising, interesting, exciting, or funny you have learned about yourself since you started making wine?
  • You run a family owned winery, and a lot of your family is deeply involved. Is that difficult? Who is the hardest person in the family to work with (you can tell us, no one will hear it!)
• Do you want your kids to join the family wine business? 
• If we were to invite you to Sunday Night Dinner (a tradition in our Italian American family), what of your wines would you bring and why?
• How can people find your wines and follow you?
  • You also said that you are in the midst of launching wine tourism more professionally, and that by September you should be ready to do over night accommodations. Tell us more about that. 

Outro, and How to Find Quinta do Pinto Wines and Nossa Imports 45:33

Alright - We want to thank you very much for listening to our interview with Rita Pinto from Quinta do Pinto wines and Dale and Stephen Ott from Nossa Imports. 

Just in case you are worried about memorizing all of this, don’t worry, you can find out all of this information on our website thewinepairpodcast.com in our show notes for this episode, and you can follow Rita and find out more information about Quinta do Pinto winery on

• Facebook and Instagram: @quintadopintowines
• Website: https://quintadopinto.pt/

And you can find and follow Dale and Stephen Ott and Nossa Imports on

• Instagram: @nossaimports
• Website: https://www.nossaimports.com/

And, we hope you will subscribe to our podcast The Wine Pair Podcast and follow us on Instagram, and we look forward to hearing from you, and as we like to say, life is short, so stop drinking shitty wine.