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Explaining the Esporão Colheita label

Explaining the Esporão Colheita label

There are more than 30 grape varieties planted in Herdade do Esporão’s seven soils and they are well adapted to the region’s climate. This geological wealth and the diversity of the grapes have sustained the quality and variability of our wines throughout the years.

In these soils, using the best sustainable practises, microorganisms develop that are essential to decompose organic matter, enabling plant roots to absorb nutrients that are crucial to keep vines healthy.

Using sustainable practises like spreading auxiliary insects, such as lacewings, essential to control some plagues, organic farming allows us to obtain wines of superior quality while respecting Nature.

This agricultural model led us to Esporão Colheita, our first wine with organic certification.

We talked to Eduardo Aires, designer and Director at Studio Eduardo Aires, in Porto, who was responsible for creating this new wine’s graphic image.

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Esporão’s relationship with Studio Eduardo Aires spans many years. We have developed a great body of work together. What was it like to receive the challenge to start this new project?
Eduardo Aires: I met this challenge with enthusiasm and within the strategy and concept that are a part of the Esporão dynamic. This positive disruption is systemic and contagious.
The most striking elements on the label are the symbols. How did these icons emerge?
Eduardo Aires: The symbols arise from a synthesis all of the natural elements involved in the process of crafting this wine. From environmental issues, to the terrain, the terroir, and even a representation of the tulip-shaped vats where the wine aged.
The label can have various interpretations and the icons are not immediately evident. What was the concept behind this label and the real meaning of each icon?
Eduardo Aires: Basically the main goal was to translate a concept: an organic wine explained using universal icons. Since this is the first wine with organic certification, we aimed to establish a niche of solutions that were a visual expression of the land and its elements.

The sun and cloud represent the weather conditions, the vine leaf and bunch of grapes represent the grape varieties, the waves, stones and roots stand for the soils, and the two bugs represent the life in these soils. There are also two characters: a “b” for biológico (the Portuguese term for ‘organic’) and a “7” for seven soils, in other words, the seven types of soil at Herdade do Esporão. We also added an icon of a cement tulip, to represent this wine’s aging method.

Therefore, this label strives to visually represent the environmental equation of the true expression of Herdade do Esporão and all of its features, from the soil to the bottle.

Esporão Colheita Red and Esporão Colheita White have two different colours. How did you reach these final colours?
Eduardo Aires: The colours chosen arise from the wine’s expressive character and concept. Land for the red wine and the stone for the white wine. Above all, the colours derive from the intended materiality. The land should be warm, red, almost clay. The stone had to be mineral and cold. Aside from the colour, it was also important to use a relief that emphasises the expression of this materiality.
Did you have the opportunity to taste the wines. What did you think? Which characteristics do you think stand out?
Eduardo Aires: To quote Jonathan Nossiter, you can tell this is a wine that speaks for itself. That freshness and purity stand out on the palate and the nose, and make us understand that this is a unique nectar.
July 30, 2018