Honrado

Sub-region: Vidigueira

Honrado Vineyards, Cellar Vinaria Antiqua, Pais das Uvas taverna

Address: Rua General Humberto Delgado 17, Vila de Frades, Vidigueira 7960-446 Portugal

Managing Director & Co-Founder: Ruben Honrado

Phone & Whatsapp: +351 911 524 478

Email: info@honrado.pt

Website: https://www.honrado.pt/

General Information:

Association of Vinho de Talha Producers (APVT)

Talhas: 21 (16 large, 5 small)

The Honrado family's taverna Pais das Uvas is an institution. Very much a warm and welcoming institution, where people come to eat authentic local food and drink pitchers of fresh, home-made wine tapped straight from its impressive row of giant talhas - several of which are thoroughly scrawled from top to bottom with the names of many of Portugal’s most famous, near-famous and infamous. And a few from around the world too.

Located in the beating heart of talha culture, Vila de Frades, Pais das Uvas differs from Alentejo’s other surviving bastion of talha-based restaurants, Cuba’s larger, grander Monte Pedral restaurant, because of its welcomingly intimate ‘mom and pop’ atmosphere.

Very much an extended family affair, after converting an existing ‘taberna’ into a talha-driven restaurant 20 years ago, father, António Honrado, and mother, Jacinta Penas, now run the restaurant on a daily basis, with dad making the wine. Grannies, Francisca Belbute and Amélia Caetano, refuse to completely retire and still lend a hand with the cooking on busy days. And sons Ruben and Pedro have been helping out from an early age.

Pais das Uvas is in the midst of generational rebirth. In 2006 the family purchased the bankrupt cafe next door, intent on expansion. After Ruben finished university in 2016, a decision was made to produce branded bottled wine, plant a vineyard on unused land and build a modern design winery in the new next door space. He and his brother Pedro would handle business and marketing development of the new winery.

The aim was to overcome the perennial problem with talha restaurants; making wine stretch through the year. Alongside the danger of some pots turning into vinegar, in older days talha wine was nearly all gone by February and indeed most was drunk up before December. In more modern times, better hygiene and bottling have allowed Pais das Uvas to extend to the next season, but low volumes remained a problem.

During the process of ripping out walls and floors of what was a very tackily decorated coffee shop, they uncovered Romanesque arches suggesting the building was much older than they thought. Digging ever deeper below, at 80cm they discovered an underfloor with a central drainage well of the type designed to capture lost wine from exploding talha. Unbeknownst to them, they had actually purchased an old adega where they intended to build a new one.

After further research, they found documentation that proved that there had been four large adegas on their street in the 1830s and two were in the space they occupied now. Thereafter the space housed a sequence of adegas and tabernas until in 2005 it eventually failed, serving only coffee. Which just goes to show you…

Exactly how old the building is remains anyone’s guess, but archaeologists suggest it could be from the 1600s, and being close to a church implies it may have been part of the early village complex. Regardless, what is interesting is the materials used and construction style would easily slot into Saõ Cucufate’s Roman era complex without being noticed. Newly renamed Adega-Museu Cella Vinaria Antiqua, this fascinating old building now functions as much as an education center as an adega.

Continuing the spiritual link to the past, the Honrado family have planted a new six-hectare vineyard (Touriga Nacional, Alicante Bouchet, Trincadeira, Aragonez, Antão Vaz, Arinto, Verdelho and Roupeiro) on unused land bordering Saõ Cucufate, bringing Roman terroir back into production again.

Currently, Honrado produces 20,000 bottles of Vinho de Talha DOC made in 36 talhas. António continues as main winemaker with consultant Paulo Laureano providing technical support. After the restaurant’s fresh talha supply runs dry, the basic bottled range carries on serving customers. The best talha from each year is bottled as ‘Premium’, which usually wins a gold medal at the local talha wine competition. They also produce a limited volume super Premium, which is bottled exclusively for Rolls Royce and Bentley Club members.

An afterthought...

My last meeting with Ruben followed the 2021 St. Martin's Day festivities where I had enjoyed an intimate ‘pub crawl’ of small scale, family produced talha wines the night before. He took me aside and reflected on the energy behind the current talha revival. ‘Something new is going on here, that’s just changed in the last few months.’

Speaking of the younger people driving XXVI Talhas (who had organized the pub crawl), Geracoes, Honrado and other newcomers, ‘I think it is because the younger generation have taken over responsibility. There is a genuine spirit of sharing and cooperation. A few years ago it was everyone for themselves, but now there is a realization that people aren’t competing against each other and are more powerful helping each other out, trusting the same help will be returned.’

‘The older generation had more of a belief that they were superior and didn’t need or want others' help... Now if I have too many conflicting appointments I’ll send my clients off to my neighbors to see what they produce. I’m not competing with them, we help each other, because we all share the same culture. We help ourselves by helping each other out.’

Ruben Honrado working his magic

Inside Cellar Vinaria Antiqua

Inside Pais das Uvas

Honrado Wines

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