Sunday Winery Tour – Quinta do Mouro and Herdade do Esporão in the Alentejo

The Regional Vine and Wine Commission of Alentejo (CVRA – Comissão Vitivinícola Regional Alentejana) invites the participants of European Wine Bloggers Conference for a daily-tour to the astonishing Alentejo region. During this visit bloggers will be able to get to know two exceptional wineries: Quinta do Mouro and Herdade do Esporão (website is down for a brief time). Here they will do a winery tour, a tasting and will also get to try traditional gastronomy specialties.

Alentejo is the largest region of Portugal and is known for its strong gastronomy and wine culture. The wine region has in total 22,000 hectares (54,362 acres) and is a vast, rural area of flat plains, cork oaks and olive trees. The flatness is broken by the occasional “Monte” or low hill on which a large estate or small village is located.

The Alentejo was the standard bearer for Portugal’s wine revolution, adopting modern winegrowing methods with great results and international critical acclaim. The region has excellent whites, but is best known for red wines which are generally full-bodied, fruity and suitable for aging, its DOC sub-regions are Portalegre, Borba, Redondo, Vidigueira, Reguengos, Granja/Amareleja, Moura and Évora, with Regional Alentejano wines becoming evermore popular. In the last decade, wine tourism became more popular and today this is one one of the preferred destinations in Portugal.

The departure will be from the VIP Grand Lisboa Hotel in Lisbon on the 1st of November at 8:00 AM. On the way the group can enjoy the beautiful landscape and the first stop will be at Quinta do Mouro in Estremoz. The property was bought by the Louro Family several decades ago and releases wines since 1994.  Here the group will do a guided tour with the owner and will be able to taste a selection of internationally acclaimed wines.

At 11:30 AM the group will depart to Herdade do Esporão in Reguengos de Monsaraz, where they will visit the vast winery, taste selected wines from their portfolio, and enjoy a traditional Portuguese lunch.

Herdade do Esporão is situated in a place blessed by nature, with a typical and idyllic Alentejo landscape, at about 2km from Reguengos de Monsaraz, and it is one of the most prestigious wine productions in Alentejo region, widely known for the quality of its wines.

Esporão Estate is an historical place, with its territory formed since 1267, and preserving up to these days some important heritage, like the Tower of Esporão, built between 1457 and 1490, one of the most important towers built during the transition from the Middle Ages to the modern era, and a symbol of the Estate, present in all the products.

At 17:30 the group will arrive at the VIP Grand Lisboa Hotel.

We hope you truly enjoy this trip and, because it is just a taste of the region, we hope this will be the first of many other visits to Alentejo.

ORGANIZATION
The CVRA was created in 1989 and is a private and interprofessional regional controlling board, responsible for the application of the Alentejo wine regulations. The Commission monitors the quality of the wines, guarantees its authenticity and promotes the image of the collective brand “Wines of Alentejo”. The CVR Alentejana supervises the use of the DOC Alentejo and IG Alentejano on bottle labels and controls the issuing of its guaranty seals. The head-office is located in Évora, a designated World Heritage site by UNESCO.
The Commission also runs the Alentejo Wine Route, promoting the development of Wine Tourism in the region.

To get to know more about the wine region, visit: www.vinhosdoalentejo.pt

To see photos of the Alentejo, please download this pdf.
Contact at CVR Alentejana:
Maria Amélia Vaz da Silva
Tel: +351 266 746 498
Mobile: +351 927 140 044
Skype: maria.amelia.vaz.da.silva
Email: m.amelia@vinhosdoalentejo.pt