A landmark wine of the Alentejo’s modern wine renaissance, Herdade do Esporão Torre has benefitted from a series of improvements in the vineyard and cellar, making for a sleek, polished new release says Sarah Ahmed.
If the 15th-century tower at Herdade do Esporão is emblematic of the transition from medieval times to Portugal’s modern age, the estate’s wines heralded the dawn of Alentejo’s modern winemaking era. All considered, it seems fitting that Esporão’s flagship red—Torre do Esporão—is named after this iconic symbol of power and status.
Founding fathers
Since producing the first wine from Herdade do Esporão in 1985, Esporão has been—and remains—a huge influence on wine growing in this sprawling, southerly region, which accounts for one third of continental Portugal’s landmass. Located in the sub-region of Reguengos de Monsaraz, the estate was acquired in 1973 by co-founders José Roquette (a banker) and Joaquim Bandeira (an agronomist).
As the timescale between then and making Esporão Reserva Tinto 1985 suggests, the quality-focused pair had their work cut out for them. After four decades under the Portuguese Estado Novo (Portuguese New State), the government’s agricultural policies had resulted in a systemic overproduction of low-quality bulk wines from Alentejo. Working in concert with Professor Colaço do Rosário of Évora University, Roquette and Bandeira provided the so-called “father of Alentejo wine” with the space for an experimental ampelographic field and financed the laboratory that helped to shape the wines of the future.
Pushing boundaries
Having bought out Bandeira in 1994, the Roquette
This Article was originally published on World of Fine Wine
