Herdade do Esporao

Herdade do Esporão Winery is the best winery from Portugal's Alentejo wine region (east of Lisbon in Reguengos de Monsaraz). The winery boasts three historic monuments on its estate: a medieval Tower, the Bow and the Chapel (all declared national heritage monuments) and recently restored by Esporao's owners, Finagra. The tower is particularly impressive, built in 1457 by Morgado �lvaro Mendes de Vasconcelos, a knight in the household of the Duke of Bragança and governor of the Roman city of Évora. The history of the estate goes back 700 years. The boundaries were first established in 1267, with winemaking operations ongoing since 1973 when Joaquim Bandeira and Dr. José Alfredo Parreira Holtreman Roquette bought the estate and began their ambitious winemaking venture, during Portugal's political upheaval.

The vineyards cover an area of 600 ha, comprised of Esporão, Perdigões, Rusga, Palmeiras and Monte. The winery has an ampelography field consisting of a diverse range of material and foreign varieties for on-going evaluation. The pruning system most widely used is the traditional 'Guyot', but the are experiments with various other types of vine training. The principal red grape varieties are: TRINCADEIRA, ARAGONÊS, CABERNET SAUVIGNON, BASTARDO,TOURIGA NACIONAL e SYRAH. The principal white grape varieties are: ROUPEIRO, ANTÃO VAZ, ARINTO, PERRUM, RABO DE OVELHA e SEMILLON.

Vineyard outside Reguengos de Monsaraz

Fresh and aromatic with a well balanced fruity palate and a clean acid finish. Velho literally means `old`and can only be applied to white wines with a minimum age of two years (three years for red) From the Alentejo wine producing region just north of the Algarve [read on...]

£6.10