ESPERA

Espera Winery, nestled in Alcobaça, Lisboa, is the passion project of the dynamic duo Rodrigo Martins and Ana Leal. Rodrigo, an agronomic engineer and master in viticulture and oenology, brings years of experience as a consultant to wineries across Portugal. Together, they embrace a unique philosophy for their wines, viewing each bottling as possessing its own tempo and essence. They celebrate the individuality of each vintage, believing that every harvest offers new discoveries, and that every vineyard and grape has its own distinct personality.

Martins articulates his winemaking approach, emphasizing a commitment to natural practices both in the vineyard and the winery. They abstain from herbicides and synthetic pesticides, preferring handcrafted methods for vineyard tasks, and eschewing irrigation. In the winery, their approach is equally minimalist, with natural fermentations, no temperature control, and minimal intervention—no fining, no filtration, and low sulfur levels.

For Martins, sustainability is not just a practice but a guiding principle, where environmental consciousness takes precedence. Central to their ethos is the unwavering focus on producing fruit of the highest quality, ensuring a legacy that benefits not only their generation but those to come.