More than Value: Excellence at Esporão
For several years I’ve been screaming from the tree tops about the incredible deals to be found on Portuguese wines. And for me, “deal” does not just mean “cheap.” From the time I started this website, back in 2007, my mission has been to find wines that are both inexpensive and excellent! The wines produced by Esporão are the perfect example of what I want to help consumers discover.
Visiting Alentejo
If you really want to understand the wines from a specific region of the world (or a specific producer) there’s no better way to gain perspective than to go there. I know from experience that no matter how much I read or watch videos about a region, I never really wrap my head around it until I go there. So, in early April, I traveled to Portugal and visited the Esporão winery in Alentejo — an easy 2 hour drive from Lisbon.
My expectation, driving out to Alentejo (pronounced ah-len-TAY-zhoo) was to find a dry, brown landscape with small areas of green created by cork trees and vineyards. I was pleasantly surprised to find a lush, green landscape everywhere, although this is uncommon and was brought on from an unusually rainy spring. In fact, they had so much rain that the reservoir near the winery was filled for the first time in eleven years!
Nonetheless, setting foot into the Alentejo felt like I had landed on another planet — one that is similar to the earth I know, but different. Walking through the cork forests of the region feels distinctly different from what us Americans experience when we step outside. And those cork forests bring life to the Alentejo.
Some say that the Alentejo is rich in poor soils. But yet life thrives here. It’s just different from the life you see in other parts of the world. There clearly is an ecosystem here, relying on symbiotic relationships between different species of plants and animals. This is not a place to impose the nature you want, but a place to work with the nature that exists. Biodiversity is crucial to creating healthy soils here, and that reality is reflected in how Esporão manages its vineyards.
Sustainability at Esporão
I spent a couple hours talking with Esporão’s Chief Winemaker, José Luís Moreira da Silva, about what’s been happening at the winery and his focus for the future. What struck me most was that he came across as a shepherd of sorts. Someone with an obligation to be a caretaker and a nurturer for the winery versus someone to mandate how things get done. At the same time, he is creating change, with a slow, methodical approach.
Esporão has recently been using the tagline “slow forward,” and while I normally don’t give much consideration to a brand’s tagline, this one seems appropriate for how José Luís leads his team. He clearly has a vision for how Esporão should continue to evolve, while also having a pragmatic perspective that change takes time. To move forward is a slow process.
It has taken time to get where they are today. All of Esporão’s owned vineyards are organically farmed, which required years of transition time. Although their vineyards are already certified organic, they continue to evolve their farming practices to improve soil health by increasing biodiversity and trying different approaches to adapt to climate change. For example, they are changing the orientation of some some vineyards and interspersing trees within the vineyards to provide shade to the grapes.
In some ways you could say what’s old is new again. The continued journey to enhance sustainability has resulted in the return of methods employed by growers generations ago. Some of Esporão’s vineyards are returning to field blends, where different grape varieties are planted and harvested together. They have found that the vines in these blended vineyards are more resilient than those in mono-variety blocks.
Cover crops are also being increasingly used at Esporão, where native wildflowers, herbs and other plants are allowed to grow between rows of vines. This helps in a few different ways. It helps cool the vineyards, which is critical in a hot region like the Alentejo. The roots of these plants help the soil retain moisture and create an environment for beneficial microorganisms. And as you walk through the vineyards you can smell the fragrances coming from these plants, which ultimately will impact the flavor of the grapes, creating a “garrigue” effect.
The majority of the trees on the property are olive trees. In fact, olive oil makes up 20% of Esporão’s revenue. Their olive oil is also organic, and very tasty.
Any vineyard with a good biodiversity program also needs animals. At Esporão sheep and bats contribute to the ecosystem, controlling pests and adding fertility to the soil.
Why does all of this matter? I’ve visited a lot of vineyards and wineries over the years. I can tell you from experience that the producers with the most consistently delicious and interesting wines are doing the types of things that Esporão is doing. Creating sustainable vineyard practices that improve soil health and improve the quality of the grapes, resulting in better wine.
And they do all of this at scale! Esporão has the largest footprint of organic vineyards in Portugal and they are one of the largest in all of Europe. That scale enables them to produce wine from organically grown grapes while keeping prices consumer friendly.
Excellence from Vineyard to Bottle
I asked José Luís about his approach to winemaking. He commented that early in his career he was obsessed with technical perfection, but through years of experience realized there was always something coming through in the wines that he could not control. That something came from the grapes.
Like many of the world’s greatest winemakers he knows that great wines can only come from outstanding grapes. Winemaking begins in the vineyard and his vision is clearly to create healthy vineyards that will bring something special to the wine. While not his words, I thought of his approach as letting the grapes lead the way.
The winemaking facilities at Esporão are also spectacular. I’ve visited enough wineries in my life that sometimes it starts to feel like if you’ve seen one, you’ve seen them all. But Esporão has some unique features.
Their red wine production building is an adobe structure, with mud walls that help maintain the temperature in the building. The center of the room has large, granite lagares — which are open vats, where wine is pressed, traditionally by foot stomping. The building also features several large concrete tanks and ceramic amphorae for ageing wines. These vessels allow for micro-oxygenation of the wine during ageing, unlike stainless steel or wooden barrels. That, of course, changes the flavor profile and texture of the wines produced in these vessels.
Once again, the “what’s old is new again” idea comes to mind. Amphorae as wine ageing vessels dates back centuries, and was used by Romans who once made wine in this same region. These are not small either. The amphorae are taller than me. One amphora still in use at Esporão dates back to 1655! It clearly shows evidence of repairs over its lifetime, and makes one wonder about the journey that vessel has had over the centuries.
Underneath the winery is where the cellars exist to store barreled and bottled wine. And these cellars are jaw-dropping. They were created using the machines that bored tunnels for the Lisbon subway. You can imagine the scale. Of course, being underground, the cool temperature in these cellars is critical for wine storage in a region as hot as Alentejo.
Tasting the Wine
I tasted over a dozen of Esporão’s wines during my visit, focusing on the wines from their portfolio that align with my target price point ($25 or less), offering the greatest value. Every one of the wines I tasted was very good, but of course there are always some standouts.
Bico Amarelo and Ameal Vinho Verde
Although I was visiting Esporão at their main winery in Alentejo, they have vineyards and produce wine from other parts of Portugal as well. Vinho Verde is in the northern part of Portugal, which is cooler and rainier than Alentejo. The name, Vinho Verde, represents both the name of the region as well as the style of these wines. Vinho Verde translates to mean “green wine,” which is a reference to the fact that these wines aren’t aged extensively before bottling and release. These wines are about freshness. They tend to have a lower alcohol level and generally aren’t meant for ageing (although there are some with ageing potential).
Vinho Verde wines are sometimes thought of as inferior or low quality wines, but it’s unfair and untrue to classify the whole category in this way. While some Vinho Verde producers make lower quality wines, doing things like adding an effervescence via artificial CO2 injection, Esporão is not one of those producers. These are quality wines!
Bico Amarelo is one of their Vinho Verde brands and they offer both a white and a red Vinho Verde. The suggested price of these wines is $14, which is very reasonable. The White Bico Amarelo is made from a blend of Loureiro, Alvarinho and Avesso. To me, this is a classic Vinho Verde. It’s very aromatic, light bodied and exudes freshness.
The Red Bico Amarelo was something new to me (and new to Esporão, with this vintage), a red Vinho Verde. When I first saw it, I thought it was a rosé, although the color is slightly darker than a true rosé. It’s made from a blend of Espadeiro, Padeiro and Borraçal, which are all native Portuguese grapes that you’ve probably never heard of. They certainly are grapes I’ve never tasted (I keep records of that). Fermentation is done with whole clusters of the grapes, which is evident with the pleasant, albeit subtle, tannins from this wine… which is otherwise very fruity. Fresh red berry aromas and flavors are most of what you’ll get from this wine. It’s more fruity than a rosé yet lighter and fresher than your standard red wine. This would be a nice red wine for a warm summer day. It reminded me of a carbonic macerated Pinot Noir I tasted once, which was a really interesting wine.
The Ameal Loureiro has long been one of my favorite Vinho Verde wines. You may notice the year on this one is 2023, while the Bico Amarelo wines were both 2024. Loureiro has bright acidity and good structure, giving it some ageing potential. While it’s delicious to enjoy immediately, you can also age this one for 10-15 years. It presents itself similar to a Riesling, with intense aromatics, vibrant acidity and good minerality. The vineyard where the grapes for this one are grown is still transitioning to organic, and sits along a forest of walnut, chestnut and stone pine trees. This is my “go to” Vinho Verde choice. The suggested retail price is $18.
Assobio from the Douro
Assobio is Esporão’s entry level brand of table wines from the Douro region. The suggested retail price is $13 for each of these. The grapes for these are sourced from other growers and are not from Esporão’s owned vineyards. Unlike most of the wines in the Esporão portfolio, these do not come from organically-farmed vineyards. Nonetheless, they are delicious wines at exceptionally good prices.
These wines come from higher altitude vineyards. If you’ve been reading my reviews for a while, you probably already know my preference for high altitude wines. The reason is that high altitude regions tend to have a significant diurnal shift (i.e., the change in temperature between daytime and nighttime), which helps elevate the acidity level in the grapes. That higher acidity creates more vibrant, fresh tasting wines.
The vision for these three wines was to create gastronomic (i.e., food friendly) wines, using grapes native to the region. They succeeded at delivering on that vision.
The white Assobio has pronounced citrus characteristics and outstanding freshness. The rosé offers similar freshness with a touch of tannins, which make this rosé more food-friendly than some others. The red version delivers ripe berry aromas and flavors and a silky mouthfeel. It’s a very elegant wine for this price point!
Murças Minas
Murças Minas was definitely one of the standouts. I’ve tasted prior vintages of this wine and loved them. This one wowed me.
Also from the Douro, the grapes for Murças Minas do come from a vineyard owned by Esporão. Therefore from organically grown grapes.
All the grapes come from a single vineyard, with altitudes from 110 – 300 meters. The name, Minas, translates to mean fresh water spring and is a reference to five springs that exist on the hillside where this vineyard resides.
The wine is made from a blend of five native grape varieties: Touriga Franca, Tinta Francisca, Touriga Nacional, Tinto Cão and Tinta Roriz.
The grapes are foot trodden in granite lagares and left there for natural yeasts to begin the fermentation process. The wine is aged in concrete vats and neutral oak barrels, which helps develop the rich mouthfeel of this wine.
This is a really elegant wine, with lush berry flavors. While the suggested price point is toward the upper end of my target range, at $23, it’s still a very good value.
Monte Velho
The idea behind the Monte Velho brand is to create wines that reflect the traditional winemaking of the Alentejo with budget friendly prices. These are intended to be everyday wines, not splurge wines. The suggested retail price for the white, rosé and red is $13, while the Reserva Red is $18. Once again, all of these wines are bargains at these prices!
The white is bursting with peach aromas and flavors, which is characteristic of the Antão Vaz grape used in this blend. Arinto, Roupeiro and Gouveio are the other grapes used. This is an excellent wine.
The rosé is a classic rosé. If you like rosé, I expect you’ll love this one. It’s dry, with bright acidity, freshness and pleasant aromatics.
The red is very aromatic, with ripe berry flavors. It’s a very approachable wine.
The Reserva is spicy and vibrant. I have a bottle of this one at home and will soon do a detailed write-up specifically about this wine.
Esporão Colheita and Reserva
These are the flagship wines from Esporão, the Colheita and the Reserva. They are red and white blends, representing the ideal of Alentejo wines, made from 100% organically-grown grapes. We are into the premium tier here, but we’re still within a very reasonable price range.
Colheita is a word you’ll see on some Portuguese wines. It technically translates to mean, “harvest,” but you can also think of it as “vintage,” representing the year of harvest. The Colheitas have a suggested retail price of just $18.
An interesting fact about these wines, starting with this vintage, is that they are bottled without a foil capsule over the cork. Why? To be more sustainable. The foil capsule does nothing to preserve the wine and is purely aesthetic. José Luís shared with me that he has wanted to make this change for a while but there has been resistance from consumers (which I interpret to mean, importers and distributors). He said that it saved 5 tons in aluminum. I haven’t fact checked that, so I’m not sure if it’s an exaggeration but regardless, it saved a bunch of aluminum.
This release is a first step to test reception of the capsule-less bottles. I think it’s a great idea. It’s also an example of the pragmatic approach to change José Luís appears to take. It’s not just testing the idea, but giving others time to become comfortable with the change.
As I reviewed my notes from tasting these wines, I noticed the word “fantastic” kept appearing. All four of these wines knocked my socks off.
The White Colheita is quite elegant, with citrus, apple and tropical aromas and flavors. Like a broken record, again I have to applaud the fresh expression of this wine.
The Red Colheita has a really nice mouthfeel. The wine goes through concrete tank aging, which likely helps develop that texture. It’s quite aromatic too, showing very good spice and berry aromas and flavors.
Reserva is the oldest brand in the Esporão portfolio. The suggested retail price for either is $24.
The White Reserva is a blend of Antão Vaz, Arinto and Roupeiro in a classic style. 25% of the wine is aged in new French and American oak. This is a little less oak than was used for this wine just a few years ago. The restraint is a good move, in my opinion. Classic elegance is what you get here.
The Red Reserva is 100% aged in barrels. The blend is a combination of native and international varieties, including: Alicante Bouschet, Trincadeira, Touriga Nacional, Aragonez (Tempranillo) and Cabernet Sauvignon. This wine offers complexity, featuring a nice combination of red fruit and spice aromatics and flavors. The mouthfeel is spectacular.
