Febvre

Herdade do Esporão is located little more than 170 kilometres southeast of Lisbon, nearby the historical city of Reguengos de Monsaraz, in Alentejo.It benefits from the Mediterranean-continental climate, with its intense sun exposure, reaching an average of 300 days per year. The climate is also characterised by notoriously warm summers and short and rainy winters, with significant diurnal thermic amplitudes.

The Esporão winemaking team is led by Portuguese-Australian David Baverstock, a major figure in Portuguese winemaking, who has made a very important contribution to the domestic and international image of the wines of the Alentejo and Herdade do Esporão.

Constructed in 1987, this winery was designed to use gravity to the maximum and reduce the use of pumps, the distance between the different operations and minimise the effect on the grapes. It boasts three different sections equipped with different technologies and adapted to the particular wines being produced.

Esporão’s large barrel tunnel, which is one of the tourist attractions of Herdade do Esporão and resembles a fifteen-metre wide metro tunnel, is buried twelve metres deep, providing the best natural temperature and humidity without the need for artificial control or energy and environmental costs. It houses approximately 1,500 225-litre bordalesa barrels, about 70% of which are American oak, with the remainder French oak. Approximately 30% of these barrels are replaced annually and they have an expected lifetime of three to four years.