Talha Wine. The clay pot magic

A bottle of wine is always a history. And a good one always complements the wine itself. Is there any wine with more history than those produced in a talha in Alentejo? These wines genuinely represent an incredible heritage, a true legacy left by the Romans 2000 years ago. And today, year after year, it gets renewed to the revival of this tradition in many cellars, such as Herdade Grande, where I have the honour of working alongside Eng Antonio Lança, Mariana Lança and the remaining team.

The talhas (or clay pots) are being filled again at Herdade Grande. They haven’t been used in 25 years, and they were used for decoration. These are centenary talhas from when wine production was done for internal consumption. Now they are restored, and they get the grapes from our oldest and most emblematic white grapes parcel each harvest.

For a winemaker, a talha is everything but predictable. The techniques used don’t come in the textbooks, so we must follow tradition and trust that all will be well in the end. At university, we spend hours studying how to protect the wine must and how to avoid early oxidations, but here that doesn’t matter. We chose an excellent talha, got the best grapes inside, and have faith in the process.

Coating the talhas

Let’s start by explaining the process of coating the talhas. And, how do we do that? This is also an ancestral process done to waterproof the talha. Done with clay and porous, the talha is covered with a layer of “pez” (a mix of pine resin, beeswax and olive oil) that will prepare it to welcome grapes. And this is also something that marks the character of these genuine wines, but we will get there.

Each guy that applies the pez has his own technique. The Herdade Grande talhas are coated at a friend’s cellar in Vila Alva (another meca for clay pots). Everything is a new experience, the fire, the smell of the pez, the talhas changing their position facing the fire, and finally, they are ready for harvest.

Finally, we get to the day…

In 2021 we filled the talhas still in August. Our intervention was only on viticulture and the decision of harc+vest date. That was it. We chose good and healthy grapes, destemmed them, and used the stems to serve as the base for the talha and later on as the wine filter.

After the grapes are in, fermentation is spontaneous without yeast inoculation, only the ones arriving from the vineyard. We trod the grapes through the skin mass to the bottom of the pot during fermentation. We keep controlling the talha to avoid surprises (some have “exploded”), and we monitor the fermentation parameters to verify that everything is within the expectations.

Time goes by, and we are still hoping for the best, at least until the S. Martin day, where traditionally we go to the cellar and taste the new wines and open the talhas. And so we get to the solemn moment of opening the talhas, the corks are perforated, and the wine starts gushing out into a clay bowl. It is where we fill our glasses, tasting each one again and again…

With the same grapes and process,  it’s incredible to understand the differences between each talha, where they show their character. A talha coated this year shows a more resinous side, and it’s extreme, pure talha and provocative. Another talha coated years before is all elegance. This tasting is quite a happy event among glasses of wine (and roasted chestnuts, obviously). A toast to tradition and a celebration of teamwork! And the Herdade Grande team, in particular, deserves all the recognition for the beautiful wines – and not only talha ones – they have been making!