Wine With Jimmy

Home
United Kingdom
London
Wine With Jimmy

Contact information, map and directions, contact form, opening hours, services, ratings, photos, videos and announcements from Wine With Jimmy, Food consultant, 71 Townmead Road Fulham, London, London.

It’s the all-important infectious enthusiasm and passion for the world of wine that enables Jimmy Smith to communicate to his audience in a relaxed, welcoming and fun way.

08/09/2026

🇵🇹 Alentejo ‘Talha’ series 🇵🇹

I continue my fascinating and banterful chat with Vas Fernandes winemaker about:

1) The set date of 11th November, St. Martins Day, where the wine is allowed for the first time to be drawn off its skins. As harvests are getting earlier, from October a hundred years ago, to August today, is this set date too late now? This means we have on average 3 months of skin contact compared to just 1 month in the past.

2) Low-intervention methods and the role of sulfur. The importance here is to protect ancient tradition and heritage so the methodology remains largely the same with the important inclusion of very low amounts of SO2.

3) How to clean the talha - as Vas mentions, an agile, nimble and slim person needs to get into the vessel to clean out the leftover skins, and to clean after usage. Danger pay!

Notes:
🏺The ‘talha’ is an old hand-made clay amphora of huge local cultural importance in the Alentejo, Portugal. Somewhat similar to the Georgian ‘qvevri’ but not buried underground.

🏡 Adega Vidigueira: Adega Cooperativa de Vidigueira, Cuba e Alvito⁠ is one of the most important cooperative wineries in southern Alentejo and a key reference point for understanding the distinctive wines of the Vidigueira subregion. Founded in 1960, the cooperative was established by local growers from Vidigueira, Cuba and Alvito to protect the area’s vineyards, indigenous grape varieties and long-established winemaking traditions. Custodians of the Antão Vaz grape variety, in a hilly topography flanked by the Serra do Mendro and flanked by the Guadiana River.

06/09/2026

🇵🇹 Alentejo ‘talha’ series 🇵🇹

Here I talk to of about the unique style that is ‘pahlete’ in Alentejo, Portugal. Of course wine is consumed. And Rita sings.

🔴⚪️🟠 ‘Palhete’ is one of Portugal’s most traditional and increasingly rediscovered wine styles, occupying a fascinating position somewhere between a light red and a dark rosé though classed by many locals as a white as Rita explains. Rather than being produced by simply blending finished red and white wines, Palhete traditionally involves red and white grapes being harvested and fermented together, often because the varieties were interplanted in the same old vineyard. The resulting wines tend to have a pale ruby, garnet or pink-red colour, moderate tannin and an emphasis on freshness, perfume and drinkability.

🏺Talha: Talha is the 2000 year-old traditional clay amphora dating to Roman times used for fermenting and storing wine in Portugal’s Alentejo, representing one of the country’s oldest surviving winemaking traditions. Those of you who know ‘qvevri’ wines from Georgia will be interested. It remains particularly closely associated with villages around Vidigueira, including Vila de Frades, often regarded as the cultural heartland of Vinho de Talha.

🏡 Gerações da Talha ‘Generations of the Talha’ is a small, family-run producer based in Vila de Frades, near Vidigueira in Portugal’s Alentejo, a village widely regarded as one of the great centres of the region’s ancient vinho de talha tradition. The estate is closely associated with the Honrado family, whose knowledge of talha winemaking has been passed from one generation to the next.

05/09/2026

🇵🇹 Alentejo ‘talha’ trip, Portugal 🇵🇹

Here I talk to the lovely and energetic Maria Pica of the estate from a wonderful vista overlooking the sub-region of Vidigueira. Here we locate the town of Vidigueira, the talha village-capital of Vil de Frades, the Serra do Mendro and the Alqueva Dam on the Guadiana River.

🗻The Serra do Mendro is one of the most important geographical features influencing viticulture in the Vidigueira subregion of Alentejo. Although relatively modest in elevation (highest peak is 424 m (1,391 ft) the range has a disproportionately large influence on vineyard climate, soils, exposure and ultimately wine style.

🌊 The Alqueva Dam. Built across the Guadiana River near Moura, the dam was completed in 2002, creating the enormous Alqueva Reservoir, which extends across much of eastern Alentejo and into neighbouring Spain. With a storage capacity of around 4.15 billion m³ of water and a surface area of approximately 250 km² (97 sq mi), it is often described as the largest artificial lake in Western Europe by surface area. This has been essential both agriculture and viticulture.

🏡 Quinta do Paral is an ambitious modern wine estate in Vidigueira, combining contemporary winemaking with a strong commitment to the region’s old vineyards, indigenous grape varieties and traditional wine culture. The present project began in 2017 by German entrepreneur Dieter Morszeck. They have nearly 60ha planted with almost 20ha of very old vines. They have traditional method sparkling, whites, reds and rosés from entry level to premium, and, of course talhas. They have also developed into a broader wine tourism estate, incorporating olive oil production, restaurants and a 22-room luxury wine hotel. Mark my words, the food is delicious.

04/09/2026

🇵🇹 Alentejo ‘talha’ trip, Portugal 🇵🇹

THREE grapegrowing decisions that can help to craft great quality ‘talha’ wines.

Here I talk to of about three major decisions/factors that can help craft ‘talha’ wines.

🏺Talha: Talha is the 2000 year-old traditional clay amphora dating to Roman times used for fermenting and storing wine in Portugal’s Alentejo, representing one of the country’s oldest surviving winemaking traditions. Those of you who know ‘qvevri’ wines from Georgia will be interested. It remains particularly closely associated with villages around Vidigueira, including Vila de Frades, often regarded as the cultural heartland of Vinho de Talha.

🏡 Gerações da Talha ‘Generations of the Talha’ is a small, family-run producer based in Vila de Frades, near Vidigueira in Portugal’s Alentejo, a village widely regarded as one of the great centres of the region’s ancient vinho de talha tradition. The estate is closely associated with the Honrado family, whose knowledge of talha winemaking has been passed from one generation to the next.

THREE factors that help create high quality talha wines:

1️⃣ Earlier night-picked grapes, often picked today around middle of August, helps create lower pH levels and higher total acidities important for creating balance against the tannin extracted from maceration on skins.

2️⃣ Vidiguiera has a higher ‘diurnal’ shift, the difference between daytime and nighttime temperatures and the cool nights help preserve acidity.

3️⃣ Geology - the schist soils are said to help create higher acidities too, but also stronger vines with deeper root systems.

03/09/2026

🇵🇹 Alentejo ‘talha’ trip, Portugal 🇵🇹

What are ‘talhas’ in Alentejo, Portugal?
Why are they so important?

📹Here I talk to Vasco Fernandes, winemaker at about the historical, cultural and social role of the famous clay amphora, talha, in the Alentejo region of Portugal. We visit his talha cellar in the video.

🏺Talhas: Talha is the traditional clay amphora used for fermenting and storing wine in Portugal’s Alentejo, representing one of the country’s oldest surviving winemaking traditions. The practice stretches back more than 2,000 years, generally associated with the introduction and development of large clay-vessel winemaking during the Roman occupation of the Iberian Peninsula. Remarkably, the technique never entirely disappeared from the Alentejo and remains particularly closely associated with villages around Vidigueira, including Vila de Frades, often regarded as the cultural heartland of Vinho de Talha.

🏡 Adega Vidigueira: Adega Cooperativa de Vidigueira, Cuba e Alvito⁠ is one of the most important cooperative wineries in southern Alentejo and a key reference point for understanding the distinctive wines of the Vidigueira subregion. Founded in 1960, the cooperative was established by local growers from Vidigueira, Cuba and Alvito to protect the area’s vineyards, indigenous grape varieties and long-established winemaking traditions. Custodians of the Antão Vaz grape variety, in a hilly topography flanked by the Serra do Mendro and flanked by the Guadiana River.

Have you ever tasted a ‘talha’ wine? TELL ME ABOUT YOUR EXPERIENCES! (Sorry for shouting)

02/09/2026

Here I chat to Ricardo Silva, winemaker of Adega de Borba in Alentejo, Portugal. We discuss the sub-region of Borba, the Alfrocheiro grape variety, the marble geology of the vineyard we film in and the WASP (Wines of Alentejo Sustainability Programme).

🏡 Adega de Borba founded in 1955 is one of the historic pillars of modern wine production in Portugal’s Alentejo and an important example of the role that cooperatives played in transforming the region from largely traditional, small-scale production into a modern commercial wine industry. With 230 growers across 2,200 hectares it is intrinsically embedded in the social fabric of the Borba sub-region.

🍇Alfrocheiro is a traditional Portuguese black grape variety valued for its ability to produce deeply coloured, aromatic wines with fresh acidity and relatively refined tannins. Although it is most strongly associated with Dão, where its naturally high acidity is particularly prized, Alfrocheiro is also grown throughout parts of the Alentejo, where it provides a useful counterpoint to the region’s warmer climate and naturally powerful red-wine styles.

🐝The award-winning Wines of Alentejo Sustainability Programme (WASP) — Programa de Sustentabilidade dos Vinhos do Alentejo (PSVA) in Portuguese — is one of the most important sustainability initiatives in Portuguese wine. Developed by the Comissão Vitivinícola Regional Alentejana (CVRA), led by João Barroso, it provides Alentejo grape growers and wineries with a structured framework for improving their environmental, social and economic sustainability.

🪨 Marble soils are relatively rare in the world’s vineyards, but where they occur they can create distinctive conditions for vine growth. Marble itself is a metamorphic rock, formed when limestone or dolomitic limestone is subjected to intense heat and pressure. Because its parent material is limestone, marble is composed predominantly of calcium carbonate (CaCO₃), although magnesium and numerous other minerals may also be present. Here it is famed in Borba, Alentejo.

27/08/2026

10 years today married to this absolute wonderful human Bethany Paterson-Smith , I still pinch myself that she said yes ❤️ Thank you for being an awesome partner in crime, a wonderful wife, the best mummy to kids and furbabies and business partner. I think we’re a pretty special team, and I’m looking forward to the next 10 and beyond ❤️

🎶 song from our first dance 🎶

📸1: wedding picture, Newhaven, CT
📸2: First trip away to Andalucia, Jerez
📸3: Recent snap at our friend’s Hannah Pearson Andrew Joseph Pearson party, who we’re seeing this weekend 🕺🏻

❤️

19/08/2026

I am so delighted today. I put my heart and soul into the Wine With Jimmy Wine With Jimmy portal, filming 800+ videos for the WSET Diploma to provide supplementary help for students worldwide, and thank you messages such as Mauricio’s make it all worth while. Thank you and congratulations!

I’m coming for 🥩 and 🍷in December!

02/07/2026

❓Who are these instrumental people in Castilla y León grapegrowing and wineamaking?

❓Would you add more to the list?

24/06/2026

Overnight the Jimmy Smith YouTube channel broke the 60k subscriber count - thank you 🥳

A heartfelt shout-out to all the students out there - let me know if you got involved in WWJ! And another shout-out to our education partners globally.

✅Wine With Jimmy is an online e-learning platform helping students globally successfully complete their wine exams.

✅The Wine With Jimmy Club is a monthly subscription service helping you enjoy wine even more. For just £3.99/month you get access to exclusive video content and series. Search for WWJ club online and join the fastest growing community of wine lovers.

Address

71 Townmead Road Fulham, London
London
SW6 2SG

Website

http://www.winewithjimmy.com/

Alerts

Be the first to know and let us send you an email when Wine With Jimmy posts news and promotions. Your email address will not be used for any other purpose, and you can unsubscribe at any time.

Featured

Acorn Andrology
Enfield
London Trusted Therapy Harley Street
Pinero House, 115A Harley Street