It turned out to be one of those special days. I had an appointment in Vila de Frades to meet a young winemaker I hadn’t previously met; Teresa Caeiro, the driving force in a ‘new’ adega, Gerações da Talha. 

Upon arrival, I was elated to find that she was the grand-daughter of Professor Arlindo Ruivo, one of Alentejo's great fonts of knowledge concerning traditional talha practices. Crucially, she had just taken over his magnificent old adega, and was in the process of renovating one of my favorite wineries on earth. 

I caught her in the midst of the first throes of a very busy harvest, with her weeks-old baby daughter in her arms, and her mother on a ladder beside them, filling a talha with freshly crushed grapes. Suddenly in walked the Professor himself, still lending an experienced hand and offering advice at vendimia. Thus the new name was explained: Gerações da Talha. Here they were, four  generations - gerações - of a dynastic talha winemaking family, working together to bridge the distant past and carry it into a bright future.

This was great news for me. During our many meetings over the previous decade, Professor Arlindo had provided a key to my understanding of talha, sharing his insight, experience and deep memories of those who had come before him. Worryingly, the last time we met he was clearly tired and probably nearing the end of his semi-retirement. For many years he had been holding out the baton, always teaching and helping wherever he could, patiently waiting for someone to carry on the talha tradition. My fear was that the old adega might close before my next visit. Little did I know that his granddaughter was ready and waiting to carry on. 

In the early-to-mid-20th century the Ruivo family’s adega produced around 30,000 liters of wine, made mostly from white Antão Vaz grapes and sold in small barrels to restaurants and shops throughout the Beja region. But during the last years of the Professor’s semi-retirement, production had dwindled down to just a couple of talha filled with enough wine for friends and family.

Now, the once densely cluttered adega - every inch a living museum devoted to the evolution of talha technological practices - had been cleared out. Newly freshened up with brilliant white paint, it was in the process of having its 40 old talha placed back into position and readied for action again. Teresa’s plans are to rebuild production levels quickly to 10,000 liters and then steadily upwards from there, aiming for what the family was producing in the mid-20th century.

Purpose-built in the 17th century, the chapel-like adega is a wonderful series of Gothic arched rooms echoing those of the chapel in nearby Vila Romana de São Cucufate. Thick-walled, quiet and cool...quite a calming space actually. In the past it was a magical Aladdin's Cave of talhas and associated wine-making paraphernalia. I had marveled at everything the Professor had managed to cram into every nook and cranny of what had been a carefully cluttered, rust- and dust-filled cellar.  Back then, I could point at anything and Professor A would have a lengthy explanation for its use and/or disuse. 

Teresa assured me the treasure trove of former contents would be restored to their rightful place in the newly refurbished building. 

Drawing from the best of all worlds in terms of learning her trade, Teresa studied geology at university in Lisbon, a useful background for understanding her vineyards. After that she formally studied winemaking at Evora University, grounding herself in modern practice. Perhaps most importantly, since early childhood she has worked alongside her grandfather, learning talha practices first hand. Knowledge that isn’t taught at university... as yet. 

Although technically trained, Teresa is intent on making talha wine as naturally and authentically as it was the past. 

Her grapes are picked at perfect acidity levels, generally in late August, and go through a natural fermentation on their own yeast in talha. She gathers four varieties of whites, grown in separate vineyards, then co-ferments them together all in one day. The reds, Alfrocheiro, Trincadeira, Tinta Roriz, Moreto, Tinta Grossa are grown together in an old mixed ‘field blend’ vineyard, again co-fermented and brought in on a single day.

Both reds and whites follow the normal Vinho de Talha DOC practice of maintaining skin, seed, stem and lees contact until the official opening on St. Martin's day. Thereafter, whites are bottled in December and reds in January.

Her talha are lined with a traditional pés blend, using a local 50/50 mix of pure beeswax and pine resin. She noted that a mãe (the mother) takes up about a third of the talha’s volume, so only around 700 liters of wine are possible from each 1000-1100 liter talha. The 2021 vintage was on track to produce around 10,000 liters. 

It is exciting to see a young person, so full of energy, re-vitalizing the old adega and carrying on where her grandfather left off. It is a fitting tribute to one of the leading lights of talha wine, whose life stretched back directly to a time when talha culture was thriving, a period when not only were there large producers supplying major cities with wine, but almost every village household had a small talha to serve the family over the year.

The Ruivo family carries talha on into the future. 

Gerações da Talha Wines

Natalha Vinho de Talha Branco 2020  

Farrapo Vinho de Talha Tinto 2020 

Gerações da Talha ‘Professor Arlindo’ 2019