Producer profile: Esporão & 13 top wines to try

Esporão is one of the best known wine brands from Portugal. Highlighting its position and status at home and abroad, the company celebrated its 50th anniversary in July with 1,100 guests from 20 countries. They included Portugal’s Ministers of Agriculture & Food and Economy & Maritime Affairs, whose speeches fêted the company’s achievements.

Scroll down to see tasting notes and scores for 12 top Esporão wines to try

In his forceful keynote speech, co-founder José Roquette exhibited the vision and tenacity that enabled Esporão to survive a turbulent watershed in Portugal’s history. And then to thrive. ‘The story of Esporão is the story of the country itself,’ said 87-year-old José, who retired last year. He has handed the chairmanship to his youngest son, João Roquette (below).

Arrested development

It all began promisingly in 1973, when Roquette (a banker) and Joaquim Bandeira (an agronomist) acquired Herdade do Esporão in Reguengos de Monsaraz, a sizeable estate in Portugal’s southerly Alentejo. Since the 1950s, the region had been dominated by cooperatives focused on bulk wine production. Bandeira believed in taking control of planting, production and marketing to build a quality brand. Roquette was immediately taken with this vision. ‘My father, a natural entrepreneur, invested all his money in this dream project,’ explains João.

However, the dream turned into a nightmare following Portugal’s ‘Carnation Revolution’ on 25 April 1974. This successful left-leaning military coup led to the nationalisation of companies (including Esporão) in March 1975. ‘The first thing the communists did was to arrest business owners, people working in finance and some landowners,’ says João. José as Esporão’s CEO, was targeted and jailed for four months.

Following his release, the family fled to Brazil, only returning home at the end of 1979. By this time the democratically elected government had returned Herdade do Esporão to José and Bandeira. The pair were initially required to sell the estate’s grapes to the local co-op but, as soon as they were able, they made their first wine, Herdade do Esporão Reserva Tinto 1985. It marked the launch of a brand that last year turned over €52m and, now listed in 58 markets, accounts for a sizeable chunk of Alentejo’s sales.

Continuous innovation

With quality in mind, the partners had already started constructing a winery and bottling lines to control the entire process in-house. In the first of many talent hires, winemaker Luís Duarte (who became a leading consultant in Alentejo) and the company’s current head of viticulture, Amandio Rodrigues, were recruited from the University of Trás-os-Montes e Alto Douro.

The duo teamed up with Professor Colaço do Rosário of Évora University, the so-called ‘father of Alentejo wine’ – a key player in identifying the foundation varieties for Alentejo’s modern, quality-focused wines. Esporão provided the experimental ampelographic field and financed a laboratory that – together with Bandeira’s insistence on tasting the resulting wines – helped to identify the cuttings and varieties that were to shape the region’s modern premium wines. They included Aragonez, Trincadeira and Alicante Bouschet (reds) and Antão Vaz and Roupeiro (whites), which became mainstays of Esporão’s range.

Following Duarte’s departure, Australian winemaker David Baverstock was recruited in 1991, beginning a 30-year career for the winery. ‘Some of his work, especially in the 1990s, shaped modern winemaking in Portugal – and Esporão was at the forefront of that,’ explains João.

In Alentejo’s sunny, warm climate, temperature-controlled stainless steel tanks revolutionised white winemaking. They contributed to Monte Velho, Esporão’s unoaked, fruity entry-level red, becoming a best-seller in Portugal. American and French oak barrels were deployed for a smoother, less rustic mouthfeel than traditional Portuguese oak. As Baverstock liked to say, he brought ‘a New World way, using Old World grapes’. Although under his watch, Esporão was also at the vanguard of bottling traditional DOC Vinho de Talha (clay pot) wines.

Baverstock introduced French ‘helper varieties’ into blends, such as Cabernet Sauvignon for backbone and Syrah for richness. Semillon was one of several innovative single-varietal labels he introduced. The tweaks and changes kept coming, not least because Esporão planted its own ampelographic field in 2010 to some 190 grapes (37 of which are now in full production) and acquired three more Alentejo vineyards.

Looking ahead

So it’s no surprise that the Esporão name has become synonymous with quality and consistency, accessibility and innovation, from Monte Velho to Torre do Esporão, the flagship red which has only been made four times since 2004. Since 2022, winemaker José Luís Moreira da Silva (who joined the company in 2015), has been responsible for overseeing all Esporão’s production. ‘We have a new cycle of winemaking and someone who will definitely continue to push barriers like David,’ says João.

‘Innovation is part of our DNA,’ states Moreira da Silva. It’s part of the legacy that he fully intends to respect, continuing the direction of travel towards more precise, detailed wines. Initiatives include focusing on balanced maturation, not concentration. ‘It’s all too easy to obtain concentration in the south,’ he remarks.

Moreira da Silva’s team is using more used oak and bigger format oak, as well as concrete tanks for ageing. They are also ageing wines more reductively on lees (an antioxidant). Still, adds the Porto-born winemaker who cut his teeth in the north: ‘There is always a comfort side in Alentejo wines compared with Douro, and I am beginning to appreciate it.’

Beyond Alentejo, beyond wine

Esporão’s winemakers have been prominent ambassadors which, for João, reflects ‘a balance between management and passion and product and vision’. Both Roquettes – father and son – started out in banking, and have built the brand with considerable business acumen. José bought out Bandeira in 1994. In 1997, Esporão was among the first wine (as opposed to Port) companies to invest in wine tourism and launched its popular olive oil, pioneering single-varietal labels for its products.

José explains that this century the company has invested around €100m in new projects. Esporão has acquired estates in the Douro (Quinta das Murças) and Vinho Verde (Quinta do Ameal). In 2018, it bought Sovina, a craft beer business. This has already resulted in cutting-edge cross-fertilisation projects, such as substituting hops (an antioxidant) for sulphur in wines, and ageing beer in wine barrels.

Perhaps the most ambitious project of all has been to secure organic certification for 111ha of olive groves and all 635ha of Esporão’s Alentejo and Douro vineyards. This figure represents 18% of Portugal’s total certified organic vineyards. The change to organic viticulture has contributed to more balanced maturations (and, it follows wines), according to Moreira da Silva. Sustainability, an overarching strategy, is also exemplified by Restaurant Herdade do Esporao, a no/low waste eatery, which has held a Michelin star and Michelin Green star since 2021.

Popularity and respect

The move into the family business in 2005 was intimidating for João. ‘The scale overwhelmed me,’ admits the man who had already left banking for music, before succumbing to wine. ‘But when I thought about incredibly respected musicians like Stevie Wonder and Prince, who are also very popular, I thought “This is possible!”’

The 49-year-old is keen to emphasise that respect for Esporão among both consumers and the wine trade stems not only from its product-oriented approach. By that João means: ‘Being full of ideas about how we can improve and best serve people with a product we are proud of and excited about.’ He adds: ‘More than just work, it’s about contributing to society and improving people’s lives and protecting the environment.’

This values-oriented approach has been the key to attracting and keeping talent. As he observes: ‘People want to be part of it. Once you take care of the cultural side, it’s just a matter of organising ourselves and having good ideas.’ Smiling broadly, João remembers it prompted this question from the former Niepoort winemaker, Luís Seabra, who has won acclaim for his eponymous label. How do you do the scale, but with attention to detail, and the emotion is there? Esporão is like a giant with a big heart.’

Top Esporão wines to try

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