This podcast media series focuses specifically on sustainability in Alentejo, a wine producing area covering nearly all of southern Portugal. The project includes interviews with a number of winemakers including Iain Richardson from Mouchão, the team Herdade dos Grous, Luis Patrão from Coelheiros, and João Roquette from Esporão.

I also speak with Helena Ferreira, Director of Production at Adega de Borba, where a thousand families are dependent on the sustainability of the cooperative, as well as the American climate scientist and wine producer, Dr. Gregory V. Jones. And of course, I speak at length to João Barroso, who has been a key force in developing the Wines of Alentejo Sustainability Program, or Wasp, and who has been my guide on the road trip across the region in September 2021.

The aim of this work is to identify the characteristics of the challenges winemakers and estate owners are facing and their responses to those challenges. Additionally, I'm looking at the role WASP has played in transforming the response to the climate emergency and really paving the road to a more resilient future. Dr. Gregory V. Jones drew attention to Alentejo in his study dating back to 2005. And it's striking how wine producers have internalized what this research means in terms of risk and how they are responding to it. 

This is where WASP has emerged, learning from other regions but also taking time to develop a thorough and robust framework for producers to operate whilst transforming to a range of practices including organic and regenerative that together constitute a true pathway to creating a fully sustainable region. This introductory episode begins with producers talking about how they experience and perceive the threats. Starting with Dr. Greg Jones, recapping on the vulnerability of Alentejo to a heating climate.