XXVI Talhas

XXVI Talhas, Vila Alva, Portugal

Winemaker Ricardo Santos

Region Alentejo

Country Portugal

Soil Type Sand and gravel

Main Varieties Antão Vaz, Roupeiro, Manteúdo, Perrum, Diagalves, Larião and Tinta Grossa

A group of friends from Vila Alva came together to create XXVI Talhas. They grew up watching their families using traditional methods; wine made in clay pots (Amphora/Talha). This project, an old dream, and now reality, has the aim of promoting the traditional wine produced in Vila Alva. Their village is one of the few places in the Alentejo where the tradition of producing amphora wine, introduced by the Romans, has continued to this day. Unfortunately, in recent years, this practice has been dying-out, however, XXVI Talhas aim to reverse this trend, now backed by the recently introduced DOC Alentejo Vinho de Talha, helping to promote these traditional methods in their ancestral home towns.

All of their vineyards are small, old, field blend plots, on sandy-clay soils, with a few pockets of granite and schist. Some parcels are almost 100 years old, and some even ungrafted. All the parcels are picked and fermented separately, each getting their own Talha or two. The Talhas are mostly very old - some dating back to the 17th century! - and vary in size from 300L to 1000L. Unsurprisingly, they have 26 in total, all individually numbered as they all have their own personalities. Once finished, each wine is tasted and blends are made to produce their different cuvees. Occasionally a single Talha stands out and is bottled without blending as a Talha Unico.