Alentejo Vinho de Talha, amphora & ‘Pote de Barro’ wines

DOC Vinho de Talha rules introduced in 2010 aim to preserve core traditions.  They provide that:

• the grapes must be de-stemmed;
• the fermentation must be undertaken in impermeable pots (‘talha’);
• the wine and the skins must remain in talha until November 11th (St. Martin’s day); and
• the grapes must be sourced from (and permitted by) Alentejo’s DOC sub-regions (Borba, Évora, Granja-Amareleja, Moura, Portalegre, Redondo, Reguengos and Vidigueira).

I’ve been entranced by talha wines since my 2015 visit with traditional and contemporary talha wine makers, reported in two posts, here and here.  It is worth emphasising that there can be a world of difference between the two (which I have categorised separately below), additionally between Vinho de Talha DOC wines and those wines (let’s call them hybrid) which ferment in talha without skins or on skins but only for a short period.

Typically made by producers whose bread and butter is mainstream wines, contemporary talha/amphora styles tend to be fresher, with more refined phenolics/tannins.  Benchmark Vinho de Talha DOC examples have texture and layer thanks to skin contact.  And they are capable of great finesse in the right hands and the right pot!  Check out my Decanter report here on Portugal’s most expensive wine release – Herdade do Rocim Jupiter Code 01 2015.   Whilst friendly, entry level contemporary Vinho de Talha and ‘hybrid’ examples can be a little too ‘clean’ and less interesting for it.

Conversely, the more traditional styles from dedicated talha makers now bottling their wines can tip into oxidative and lack freshness and/or detail.  But the best are spicy and multi-layered.  Technically trained winemakers are, perhaps, better able to hedge against losing purity and freshness without losing personality or ‘soul.’  Treading the line brilliantly, XXVI Talhas are a case in point.

As this tasting demonstrated, quality and style is varied within each category.  The different grapes, terroir and pots themselves (clay density, porosity, size and condition) influence the resulting wines and, where bottling these wines is a relatively new development, inevitably producers are still finding their way.

If you are interested to find out more, the Alentejo Wine Commission has published a terrific guide with video interviews about the history and evolution of talha wines here.

The chapter about talha wines in Simon Woolf’s and Ryan Opaz’s new book, ‘Foot Trodden, Portugal and The Wines That Time Forgot,’ is a great read on the traditional culture of (unbottled) talha wines.

The Centro Interpretativo do Vinho de Talha opened at Praça 25 de Abril 11-14, Vila de Frades, in 2020 to lead visitors through the history, culture and process of talha winemaking.  Moves are afoot to reinforce the culture and tradition of talha wines yet further by applying for UNESCO Intangible Heritage Cultural status.

Last September, a group of producers independently established the Association of Vinho de Talha Producers (APVT) to protect and promote traditional talha wines with their own seal of identity and quality.  You will see ‘APVT’ alongside the names of producer members below.

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Characterization of the Oxygen Transmission. Qvevri, Concrete, Stonewear

Today, there is a trend in enology promoting a return to the use of old natural materials for the manufacture of storage and maturation wine tanks. One of the most sought-after characteristics of these materials is their permeability to oxygen from the atmosphere to improve wines without this being a harmful process. The reference performance in wine aging is, without doubt, the oak barrel for its ability to oxidize wines in a controlled way, thus improving them. It would be possible to mature wines in containers in which the use of wood is not obligatory, as opposed to aging in oak barrels or foudres. This work presents the results of oxygen permeation analysis under test conditions typical of a tank containing wine, using materials, such as concrete and granite. The oxygen permeability of the materials tested was very diverse, typical of natural materials. The results showed that earthenware presents an excessive permeability, not only to atmospheric oxygen, but also to liquids and needs treatment before being used in liquid containers. Claystone and concrete can be impermeable to liquids, but maintain permeability to atmospheric oxygen—making them candidates for use in permeable tanks for wine maturation. Finally, granite has some very interesting characteristics, though thickness control is required when calculating the desired oxygen transmission rate. View Full-Text

Oregon made qvevri

Andrew and Annedria Beckham are the owners of Beckham Estate Vineyards in Sherwood, Oregon, where Andrew is the winemaker. Unique to Beckham Estate Vineyards, Andrew Beckham blends his two passions, wine and art, using Amphorae. Amphorae are terra cotta vessels used as part of an ancient tradition of winemaking in terra cotta vessels, thought to originate in the Republic of Georgia. This is part two of the Beckham oral history interviews. This interview takes place at Union Wine Co. in Tualatin, Oregon where Beckham stores and makes his wine. In this interview, Beckham tells about his experiences using Amphorae. To access more material in this collection, please visit Digital Commons at http://digitalcommons.linfield.edu/ow…. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=BB1MW2kB3a4

Characterization of Selected Organic and Mineral Components of Qvevri Wines

Characterization of Selected Organic and Mineral Components of Qvevri Wines

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Qvevri Project Home Qvevri Wine comes To Texas and the United States

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the 2 d Qvevri Wine Symposium in Georgia – Four Monasteries and no funerals: Georgian Adventures

Qvevri Wine Symposium in Georgia. Some were writers and photographers, some were winemakers who used clay pots in their vinification, and others were grizzled wine trade pros with a natural swerve to their step. The trip was organised to a t, balancing the needs of education, culture-vulturing as well as copious spiritual – and spirituous – refreshment. One can say without doubt that coming into contact with another culture teaches you about your own.

via Four Monasteries and no funerals: Georgian Adventures.

Kvevri how to deal with

Check this article by Giorgi Barisashvili, an absolute minefield of useful info about the qvevri

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Georgian Wine-Jar/ Kvevri production – YouTube

Georgian Wine-Jar/ Kvevri – YouTube.

2012 j.brix wines Kvevri Project: Lining with Beeswax on Vimeo

Kvevri Project: Lining with Beeswax

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Report from the Real Wine Fair and RAW Fair | Marani

Given that Quevri are present in 25 different growing regions of Georgia, we also learnt how these Quevri are used differently in the different regions of Georgia. For example, in the more Westerly region of Imereti, where temperatures tend to be cooler, the grapes are placed in the Quevri with minor skin contact, and no grape stems, leading to brighter, fruitier wines. Because of the cooler temperatures in Imereti, the stems would produce a wine that was simply too tart and “green.” In Kartli, further east, there is fuller skin contact, with the wine being left on the skins for up to 6 months, and some of the grape stems may also be placed in the Quevri, to increase the tannins in the wine (white as well as red). In Kakheti, Georgia’s most Easterly and hottest region, responsible for the vast majority of Georgia’s wine production, whole grape bunches, including stems, are put in the Quevri for up to 6 months.

Not only were we seeing evidence of more emphasis on Georgia’s more traditional styles of wine, there was also an exciting range of grapes on display. Up to this point we have been saying that around 30 of Georgia’s grape varieties are in commercial production, but having visited these two fairs we suspect that this number will need to be revised substantially upwards. In fact, at a recent wine fair in Georgia (which included non commercial as well as commercially produced wines) 150 grape varieties were on display. The days of homogenised wine production in Georgia seem to be far behind us.

New Grapes/Wines

Some of these new grape arrivals fill in gaps in the Georgian wine offering. For example, the red grapes Takveri and Shavkapito produce lighter bodied (though still very tannic) red wines, that provide a nice counterpoint to the heavier wines typically produced by Georgia’s predominant red grape, Saperavi. Shavkapito, incidentally, was the grape of choice for the Kakhetian kings. The two wines we sampled were both from the 2011 vintage, so still very young, and we were told that they would mellow considerably in the next 12 months. One of the apparent side effects of the Quevri production method is to produce a more mature tasting wine more quickly – possibly as a result of micro oxidation in the Quevri. Both wines would continue to mature in the bottle for the next 4-5 years.

The Georgian white grape rkatsiteli is widely regarded as the grape that benefits most from the Quevri production method, and there were numerous examples on display. The 2010 Rkasitelis from both Pheasant’s Tears and the Antadze Winery were extremely good, a deep amber colour, with powerful aromas and huge amounts of flavour (fruit peel, apricots etc) – to the extent that they might be termed “an acquired taste.” The 2008 Rkatsiteli from Pheasant’s Tears showed how the wine would mellow with time, with the fruit becoming less obvious. The 2010 and 2011 Rkatsitelis from the Twin’s Wine Cellar in Napareuli were also very good (the 2010 vintage was winner of the first place in a recent national wine competition in Georgia)

This was also our first taste of a wine produced entirely from the Chinuri grape. Our only previous contact with this light skinned and floral grape was in sparkling wine blends. Due to its temperamental nature, and the fact that it enjoys growing in windy, rocky environments, it was almost abandoned during Soviet times. Iago Bitarishvili has produced two different versions, one with skin contact and one without – we preferred the one without skin contact: soft in the mouth, then more peppery at the end, with honey, peach and walnut flavours. Other Georgian grapes that should soon be available to the UK wine buyer include the white grapes tsitska, kisi, and khikvi.

A particular revelation were the wines from the Alaverdi Monastery, which has been producing wines (including for several royal families, including the Russian Tsars) since 1011. Just stop and think about that for a moment. Over 1000 years of wine production and refinement. Presented by one of the monks (in full monk’s robes, no less), no wonder their whole range of wines was impressive, in particular their Kisi 2011 and Khikhvi 2011. Given the traditions behind the winery and the quality of their wines we will be looking to add these to our wine list shortly.

When we had finished tasting the Georgian wines, we were surprised to see another stand dedicated to Quevri wines. On close inspection is turned out that these wines were not Georgian, but from Italy and Switzerland. Having tasted a cross section of them, in the majority of cases it was difficult to see what the addition of the Quevri was really meant to achieve – often it just produced a slightly confused tasting wine, where the impact of the quevri often seemed to be working against the rest of the wine. For the most part it seemed to be something of a marketing gimmick, which was a little bit worrying. For a country that is so early on in marketing its wine tradition to the world, Georgia will have to be careful that its most treasured techniques don’t become swallowed up in a load of marketing waffle from other countries.

via Report from the Real Wine Fair and RAW Fair | Marani.