Esporão Reserva 2007

I’ve just returned from EWBC in Lisbon with a newfound passion for Portuguese wine.  The whites impressed me most, even though they represented a mere champagne flute to the magnum of reds on display.

Esporão Reserva 2007 was a leftover bottle of tinto that found its way into my luggage by means not requiring wallet surgery – I can reveal no more than that.

Fruit and Spice

Having spent a weekend sucking on bitter, tannic, raspberry flavoured tea bags by the bakers’ dozen that made my cheeks feel like Marlon Brando in The Godfather, it was a strange choice to open an Alentejo red on my first night at home.  But the problem with such tastings is not the wines themselves.  It is the numbness in the mouth after so many wines that, taken individually, would go superbly with meat, but with only a sip of water and a comedy biscuit to divide them, develop teeth greyer than a John Major suit and a tongue rougher than a night out in Scunthorpe.

This Esporão is very impressive.  Richer than Bernie Ecclestone, fruitier than Graham Norton and with seduction measured at the higher end of the Bardot scale, it is a Christmas spice box in a glass.

All the wines from the conference (and indeed the world, eventually) are logged by Adegga with a unique AVIN number, a sort of ISBN for wine.  A very helpful way of ensuring that what you read online corresponds exactly to the wine in your glass.  Follow the link, and it excuses me having to tell you where it came from, which grapes it was made from, what stopper was used and where to buy it from.  Doesn’t seem to show the ABV, though,  so I will tell you that it is 14.5% – consume responsibly.

2 Responses to “Esporão Reserva 2007”

  1. wineconversation.com » Blog Archive » European Wine Bloggers Conference review Says:

    […] Esporão Reserva 2007 (alastairbathgate.com) […]

  2. c. renton Says:

    My wife and I had this on our 20th anniversary purely because it was the most expensive on the Wine List at the the Pria Grande Resturant in Sao Rafael. We were amazed that Portugal could produce a wine that smelt so good. Taste was nearly as good. Brought 3 bottles home at 12 pounds a bottle from Albufeira. Unfortunately my wife says they can only be drunk on special occasions.

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