Casa Relvas
Sub-region: Evora
Address: Herdade São Miguel de Machede, Évora 7005-752 Portugal
Owner/Winemakers: Relvas family
Email: info@casarelvas.pt
Phone: +351 266 988 034
With deep roots in Africa and coming from outside the wine industry, Alexandre Relvas established Casa Relvas in 1997. Over the years it has grown into a large, modern, technologically-driven wine company producing over seven million bottles of wine, sold under a dozen brands to 35 countries. Production is not exclusively devoted to wine, with Merino sheep, cork and olive trees in the mix as well. This is very much a modern, super-efficient agribusiness focused on what Alentejo does best.
Over time, company management has been handed on from Alexandre (Sr.) to his two sons, Alexandre and António. These likeable, enthusiastic, 30-somethings have shifted Relvas’s philosophical focus towards high-quality, terroir-focused production and sustainable organic practices.
During the last few years they’ve turned their attention to talha-made wine, aiming for something authentic and traditional that speaks of Alentejo. ‘Something,’ Alexandre says, ‘people can enjoy and share around a table.’ Quite unexpectedly, their Art.Terra Amphora red has turned out to be one of the biggest selling wines in their shop.
The company draws grapes primarily from two large estates, Herdade Sao de Miguel (35 ha) and Herdade da Pimenta (60 ha), located on the plains halfway between Evora and Redondo. More recently they’ve acquired 155 hectares of warmer climate vineyards near Vidigueira to the south, and 25 near Evora. Vines are around 20-30 years old and 20 hectares are certified organic. All this allows Casa Relvas to draw differing fruit characters from a range of elevations and sub-climates.
Casa Relvas make their Art.Terra range in 14 talha in sizes ranging from 200 to 1500 liters. All are coated in pés. But, interestingly, they use two versions of the traditional mix of resin, beeswax and a secret herbal mixture. One is darker and the other a lighter, golden color. The latter they reckon creates a more elegant wine.
They follow the traditional practice of placing stems in the bottom of talha to provide natural filtering and hold the wine on ‘mother’ for three months with bottling in January. Most of their grapes are broken up before (wild yeast) fermentation, but sometimes they add whole bunches to amplify aromatics. Alexandre thinks talhas produce ‘lots of oxidation early during fermentation, keeping the wine stable and fresh.’ The white is pure Arinto (unusual), transferred from talha into stainless steel and bottled quickly. The red is a co-fermentation of Trincadeira, Aragonez and Moreto bottled in January.
Alexandre offered some insightful observations on how modern consumers experience talha wines. Referring back to how the red amphora wine was a big seller at the winery shop, ‘whites are more difficult for customers to understand or appreciate.’ Talha whites simply aren’t your average ‘everyday wine’ for modern taste. He was alluding to the skin tannins which naturally inhabit all reds but most people don’t expect in whites today. Their appreciation will require a generational shift in taste, skipping back to what was normal a couple of generations ago.
A confusing aspect here is that they label their Art.Terra range as ‘Amphora’ although they tick all the right traditional boxes for Vinho de Talha DOC status. The contradiction is that although all the grapes they make into talha wine are grown in DOC regions, their winery is not located in any ‘official’ DOC region, so their wine can’t be officially certified as Vinho de Talha DOC wine. Hence, they must call it a ‘regional amphora’ wine instead.
From a standpoint outside of Alentejo this all seems a little crazy, but ‘them’s the rules’ and up to locals to sort out for themselves. While ‘amphora’ designation actually allows Casa Relvas a lot more freedom to make their talha wine however they want, they still prefer to follow the traditional guidelines anyway.
It all begs a question. While Casa Relvas may technically be outside the DOC now, going back 25 or 50 or 100 or 2000 years, it would have been considered talha wine like anywhere else in Alentejo.
Alexandre Relvas in his Talha room
Stirring grapes in the talha
Art. Terra bottles