Brief History of Talha de Frades
Talha de Frades is a small producer of Talha Wine in Vila de Frades, a region traditionally known for producing talha wine and considered the capital of this ancestral art.
Talha de Frades was created with the aim of preserving the genuine character of Talha Wine and the genetic diversity of the region's century-old vines.
Our production takes place in two traditional cellars (Adega do Chato and Adega do Má-Língua), with the oldest talha dating back to 1856 – the talha that gives its name to and originates our white wine 1856.
While maintaining the original production process, we have researched and developed artisanal and natural techniques that allow the wine, once bottled, to last for many years without losing its qualities. All our wines ferment in talha, where they remain with the masses until the end of December or early February. They are then decanted, filtered solely by the masses, and placed in another talha where they age (sediment) for 4/5 months. After bottling, our wines undergo further aging in the bottle for 1 to 4 years, depending on the wine. We thus call our wines LONG AGED talha wines. We believe that bottle aging is an added value for achieving the full potential of our wines.
As an exclusive producer of talha wine, we were pioneers in bottling and certifying talha wine with the CVRA.
How did it start?
Born in Marmelar, in the Vidigueira municipality, Alexandre Frade has been in contact with talha wine since his youth through his father’s tavern in Beja, a regular gathering place for the traditional "despique" singers.
It was in this environment that he fell in love with talha wine.
Later, through his friendships with Carapeto, Bélbute, Augusto Palhaço, and other producers, closely following the important work they did to preserve talha wine, especially with the VITIFRADES talha wine festival held in Vila de Frades - Vidigueira, he committed himself to promoting a project that would commercially enhance talha wine, seeking to contribute to the economic foundations of its preservation.
After some small-scale experiments he started in 2011 at the farm where he resides, and enrolling in the Higher Technological Professional Course (CTSP) in viticulture and enology at IPBeja in 2014, the conditions were set to fulfill the promise made to his friends at VITIFRADES: to continue his passion while honoring his father’s memory.
This led to the establishment of ACV in the second half of 2015, which in 2023, after rebranding, became Talha de Frades.
The Project
The vision behind this project has three fundamental aspects:
- The deep-rooted millennial cultural connection that the production and consumption of talha wines have in various regions of Alentejo, especially in the Vidigueira, Vila de Frades, Cuba, and Alvito areas.
- The growing interest in "wine tourism" is a reality. Talha wine can be a strong incentive for foreigners to visit us and for Portuguese visitors.
- Talha wine should not be mass-produced; it won’t compete on price but rather on quality, providing an opportunity for small producers.
Thus, we define two major missions for Talha de Frades:
- To lead the beginning of a new and third stage for talha wine (talha wine is good and distinct when young, but it also ages extraordinarily well with Long Aging).
- To lead and contribute to the preservation of the genome of century-old vines in the Vidigueira wine region (since 2018, we have been implementing a Genome Center in our vineyards to study and preserve the indigenous grape varieties).
The Wines
- Millennial White 2022: Produced from a young vineyard, 5 years old, located near the ruins of S. Cucufate in Vila de Frades. Its terroir is characteristic of the region, with sandy-loam soil based on granite. The vines come from grafts of century-old vineyards, thus attempting to preserve the genomes of the region’s indigenous varieties.
- Vale Palheiro White 2019: Produced from a young vineyard, with vines coming from century-old vineyard grafts. It is a more silky and rounded wine from a terroir characteristic of the Vila de Frades region (sandy-loam soils based on granite). Its name comes from the place where the vineyard is planted, Vale Palheiro, near the ruins of S. Cucufate.
- 1856 White 2019: Composed of the typical Vidigueira varieties (67% Antão Vaz and 33% Arinto), it is a wine closely linked to the region's flavors. This wine shows greater complexity, and we can taste how talha wine can age nobly due to its high phenolic composition. The name of this wine comes from the date of the talha in which it aged for 5 months before being bottled – 1856.
- Castas Antigas White 2019: Produced from an old vineyard about 40 years old, located near the ruins of S. Cucufate. Composed of 7 indigenous varieties from the region, its blend is made in the vineyard itself, with the grape varieties all planted together. It expresses the true terroir of the Vila de Frades region with its sandy-loam soils based on granites, but also the differences that the varieties show each year.
- 1x1 Red 2018: Wine from a transitional gravel and clay terroir at the border between Vidigueira and Pedrogão/Selmes. From a 20-year-old vineyard, it is composed of 50% Trincadeira and 50% Aragonez, hence the name 1x1.
- Ermida de Santa Clara Red 2018: Produced from a blend of 34% Trincadeira and 66% Aragonez from an old vineyard about 40 years old, located near the Ermida de Santa Clara – Vidigueira. It is a transitional terroir between Vila de Frades and Vidigueira, with its sandy-loam soils based on granite with some clay.
- 3 Red 2017: From a 20-year-old vineyard, it is composed of 34% Trincadeira and 66% Aragonez. The name 3 has significant meaning for our brand. It corresponds to the timeless character of Talha Wine, with over 9000 years of history, and represents the Past, Present, and Future, the continuity of this art in the Frade Family. It is a peculiar wine that best represents the 3rd Phase of Talha Wine – LONG AGING! It goes through 3 stages: Fermentation in Talha, 5 months of aging in another Talha, and long aging in the bottle.
Office
Address: Frei Amador Arrrais Street, nº9, lj 4 7800-491 Beja
Hours of Operation: Everyday except weekend - 9am to 6pm
Mobile: 96 603 88 77 Alexandre Frade – Owner and winemaker
Phone: 284 329 052
Web: www.talhadefrades.pt
Instagram: @talhadefrades
Facebook: Talha de Frades
