Gerações da Talha
Vila de Frades, Alentejo · vinho de talha, from generation to generation
For 2,000 years, wine has been made in amphorae in Vidigueira, deep in the Alentejo, just as the Romans once did. The wines long stayed under the radar because they were drunk locally. Teresa Caeiro changed that.
In Belgium, Gerações da Talha is available from The Portugal Collection. We import the wines directly and deliver throughout Belgium.
Towards new horizons
In 2019 Teresa felt the time had come to connect her little village of Vila de Frades with the world, and so safeguard the tradition handed down through the generations of her family. Until then, the wine from the family cellar was simply sold to people from the surrounding villages. It was not bottled, but drawn into jugs straight from the amphorae and drunk soon after.
We had heard a lot about amphora wine, or vinho de talha as it is called in the Alentejo. But whenever we asked our Portuguese contacts about it, they were dismissive: simple wine that would not keep. In hindsight they were right. The wine did not keep, because the locals drank it within a few months.
The family behind Gerações da Talha.
Photo: Artur Pastor, Arquivo Municipal de Lisboa.
From St Martin's Day to spring
Tradition had the harvest brought in at the end of August and fermented quickly in the amphorae. On 11 November, St Martin's Day, the talhas were opened.
The wine was drunk in the months that followed. Once the village amphorae were empty, sometime in spring, it was a matter of waiting until November.
Teresa decided to bottle the wines for the first time. And suddenly the best talha wines turn out to be far from simple. They have their own recognisable character and also seem to have considerable ageing potential.
In the spirit of the times
How vinho de talha is made
It is no coincidence that these wines are reaching us right now. They are made very naturally, and a whole movement of winemakers is returning to this age-old method today in response to runaway rationalisation in the wine world.
Traditionally the grapes are lightly crushed and go into the amphora with their skins and a good share of the stems. This natural vessel of fired clay, sealed every few years with a mix of resin, beeswax and olive oil, proves very efficient at turning grape juice into wine. The amphorae are barely filled before the natural yeasts get to work, and much faster than in modern stainless steel tanks.
Human intervention is limited to punching down the cap of skins that rises to the surface every day, so that bacteria get no chance.
A natural filter
Once fermentation is complete, the skins sink with the lees to the bottom of the amphora. There they protect the wine from oxidation, so the amphorae need not be sealed. Only if a wine stays in the amphora for more than nine months is it covered at the top with a thin layer of olive oil.
The cake of skins also works as a filter. The amphorae are tapped through an opening at the bottom, sealed with a cork. When the time comes, a wooden tap is driven into the cork and the wine is naturally filtered and clarified by the thick layer of skins and stems.
Only then does a stainless steel tank come into play, to blend wine from several amphorae if needed or let it rest briefly before bottling. A small amount of sulphite is added at that point. Little is needed, because the wine has already built up resistance to oxygen in the amphora.
In Vila de Frades
Historical photo bottom right: Artur Pastor, Arquivo Municipal de Lisboa.
Gerações da Talha in our range
Including: Farrapo (white and red), Desfarrapo, NaTalha (white and red).
View them in the webshop · More about the region: Alentejo.
Delivery and collection
We deliver throughout Belgium. Shipping costs €15.73 (incl. VAT) and is free from €175. Prefer to collect? You can pick up your order at our shop in Roeselare, Kaaistraat 62A. More about delivery