Tiago Teles

Tiago Teles

Bairrada and Vinhos Verdes, Portugal

At a Glance

• Low Intervention producer from Portugal (Bairrada, Lisboa, and Vinho Verde)

• Tiago Teles didn’t come from a winemaking family and had a background as a wine writer. Tiago traveled throughout Portugal and wrote a manifesto on natural wine called “Wines with Terroir”.

• In 2012 Tiago moved back to Vinho Verde (where his family is from) to begin farming and eventually making his own wines

• Gilda is named after the boat pictured on the label and shows Tiago’s two elder brothers sailing on it as teens. The image is based on a photograph taken in 1984 that was thought to be lost but found in 2011. "Alfrocheiro and Baga from Quinta de S. Mateus and Trincadeira from Quinta de Valdazar from classical vineyards located in the most historical area of Bairrada." Vines are 15 miles from the Atlantic Ocean

• The “Raiz” white is 100% Skin Contact Loureiro from a granite-rich vineyard in Arcos de Valdevez (Vinho Verde) near where Tiago’s grandmothers house was. “They are born in a place where, as small children, we learned to experience nature, amidst a landscape rooted in granitic soils, exuberant nature, bathed by the cristaline waters of the river Vez.”

• The Raiz Red is made with Syrah and Castelão from organic vineyards located in Quinta do Olival da Murt (Lisboa)

About Tiago Teles

Tiago Teles and his team take pride in producing straightforward, unfiltered, and unadjusted conceptual wines. In the cellar, they have opted for techniques and materials that do not distort the wine, using vinification methods that respect the grape, conducted with indigenous yeasts, without the use of enzymes, acidification, filtering, or clarification. Quality and local adaptation are important to them in creating an authentic and elegant wine profile. The result is a wine style that not only differs somewhat from other wines in the region but also embodies a natural interpretation of its place of origin.

Tiago Teles co-founded the wine website "Os5às8", having developed a career as a wine critic between 2002 and 2008. Within the scope of that project, he also co-authored four editions of an annual wine guide. He co-founded the website "Nova Crítica-vinho" between 2007 and 2009, co-authoring the guide "Portal Portugal, Guia de Vinhos Portugueses e Estrangeiros 2008 e 2009". In 2009, for professional and personal reasons, he took a step away from wine writing, only to later fulfill his long-held dream of producing wine in close contact with nature, aligned with the identity of a place. This is how Gilda e Maria da Graça were born in Bairrada – genuinely pure and palatable wines that reflect everything Tiago believes in.

In 2015, Tiago revived two inner worlds: the rehabilitation of an ancient granitic rural aggregate at Quinta da Cancela in Arcos de Valdevez, and the rebirth of the vineyards from Quinta dos Cozinheiros near Figueira da Foz, in partnership with António Marques da Cruz from Quinta da Serradinha. The wines are deeply influenced by the Atlantic Ocean, a result of Tiago's childhood connection with the sea, when he learned to sail Gilda, instructed by his grandfather. This is also a project where opinion matters, held by strong ties to family histories and the perseverance of human values of freedom and friendship. To that end, Tiago and his team have assumed an ethical commitment to wine, winemakers, their life stories, and their values. Deep down, where the roots of a place and its people come together.