There’s a reason everyone seems to be obsessed with Portugal and its wines right now. It’s got culture, stunning views and its diverse bottles, which span the spectrum of styles and flavors, offer something for everyone.
The country is home to the rich, embracing reds of Alentejo and the Douro Valley, the salt-swept whites of Beira Atlântico and the light and bright wines of Vinho Verde. Of course, there’s also the port—historically grown in the Douro Valley then ushered up the river to Vila Nova de Gaia to fortify and age. And the fortified wines of Madeira, produced on the semi-tropical island of the same name off the shores of Morocco.
You can fall in love with all of the above from afar, but their charms will only strengthen when sipped in situ. However, with an area of 35,000 square miles and thousands of wineries, there’s a lot of ground to cover when visiting Portugal.
To help serve as a guide, we decided to round up the best wineries to visit in Portugal. These stand-out properties, which start in the north then head south before swerving out to the islands, are sure to impress and make for an unforgettable trip.
The North: Porto, Douro and Minho
The strongest draw of the Douro is the scenery: steep, terraced vineyards and a winding river seemingly pulled out of a Microsoft screensaver. Declared to be a UNESCO world heritage site in 2001, rich reds have thrived in the valley for centuries, as have mineral-driven whites and port wine.
All of Douro wine ends in Vila Nova de Gaia, home to the warehouses and tasting rooms of the historic Port houses. Stop into a few, then veer across the river to Porto, a bustling port town turned colorful creative hub.
Porto is also an excellent jumping off point for Minho, a cool, wet region in the extreme northwest of the country (a one-to-two hour drive from the city) known for light, zippy Vinho Verdes (though the wines are increasingly complex, rewriting the region’s reputation for breezy all-day beverages).
For visitors, all this means that three diverse regions can be reached from one city. Here’s where to start.
Porto
It’s easy to immediately recognize the haunting silhouette in a Spanish hat and Portuguese student’s cape that crowns the Sandeman winery. While mythical, ‘The Don’ is still one of the most recognized symbols in the world of wine. The visitor’s tour digs into this more, but also ends with pours of the brand’s port backdropped by a stellar view of Porto.
Porto
To break up tastings, stop into the World of Wine, a behemoth wine museum-slash-adult theme park in the center of Nova de Gaia. There’s a range of exhibits for every interest. The Pink Palace is a highly-Instagrammable series of rooms and wine experiences. The Bridge Collection displays drinking vessels dating from ancient times to modern day. Planet Cork looks into the process of cork harvesting. Of course, there’s plenty of venues throughout the space to stop for a glass of Vinho Verde or Port, alongside more intriguing expressions like sparkling Pinot Noir from Bairrada.
Other Porto wineries to visit: Taylor Fladgate, Ferreira Cellars, Kopke, Vasques de Carvalho
Minho
If you head to the ocean from Porto rather than inland down the Douro, you’ll hit the Vinho Verde region, which surrounds coastal northwestern Portugal. Soalheiro is one of the stalwarts of Vinho Verde, and the first in the region to fully commit to the Alvarinho grape. Now, they offer a range of expressions of Alvarinhos (including amphora and skin-contact), including the classic spritzed style Vinho Verde is so well known for.
Other Vinho Verde wineries to visit: Quinta d’Amares, Quinta da Lixa, Quinta da Palmirinha
Douro
The winery’s lands date back to Roman times, when the estate held a “castrum” or fort. Winemaking bloomed in the 1600s—over a century before the Douro was established. Over the years, the property has been lovingly restored, including the original stone “lagares” (mills) and a 17th-century chapel, along with more modern touches, like a swimmable infinity pool overlooking the river.
Other Douro wineries to visit: Quinta do Vallado, Fonseca
Where to Eat
The line at Taberna Dos Mercadores in Porto may intimidate, but hunker down and hang tight—the grilled octopus and sauteed shrimp are worth the wait. O Gaveto in Matosinhos (10 minutes by car from Porto) is a stalwart seafood spot, complete with plates of barnacles, behemoth grilled whole fish and old-school service.
In Vila Nova de Gaia, The Yeatman offers pinkies-up, two-Michelin-starred tasting menus with an emphasis on fish from the Portuguese coast.
Out in the Douro, Castas & Pratos, in Peso da Régua, is housed in a former railway station and the dining room overlooks the tracks. It offers dishes like char-grilled octopus with caviar and black Iberian pork smothered in truffles.
Deeper in the valley, Seixo by Vasco Coelho Santos is an indoor-outdoor restaurant high in the hills of the Douro, with a focus on highly shareable local specialties like black rice crisped up in a cast iron pan and smoked pork neck.
Where to Stay
You have two options here: stay in Nova de Gaia for the spectacular views of Porto or jump the river to Porto and be in the center of the action.
If staying in Nova de Gaia (which is a short cab or a 20-minute walk from Porto), The Rebello is a hip hotel housed in a historic convent. Most rooms are outfitted with kitchenettes and all offer excellent views of the city, plus there’s a lively rooftop bar and a Moorish spa. Alternatively, The House of Sandeman may be a hostel by definition, but rooms are private, clean and surprisingly stylish.
In the Douro, The Vintage House Hotel’s pool is a stone’s throw from the river, the region’s main artery. Its restaurant has a deep cellar, and the rooms are stately. Or, stay further up in elevation at Casa do Rio, a slick property by Portuguese architect Francisco Vieira de Campos that’s suspended over a small gorge in the upper hills. There are only eight suites, and most have private soaking tubs.
Alentejo
One could compare the Alentejo, situated just south of Lisbon, to California. The region is punctuated with dreamy, rugged coastlines and golden hills, big reds and sunshine-driven white wines. But there’s the distinctly un-California qualities: medieval cities, Roman temples and Gothic guesthouses. Compared to the Douro and Vinho Verde, which are centralized around the city of Porto, the Alentejo is best traveled through the small towns and along the route—Elvas, Évora and Monsaraz.
Estrada
Fitapreta’s estate, located on the edge of Évora, dates back to 1347, when it was owned by the church and controlled by archbishop Dom Martinho Pires de Oliveira. After stints in France, California and Australia, Azorean winemaker António Maçanita took over the property in 2004 and lovingly restored the medieval estate. Now, programming ranges from easy courtyard tastings to immersive concerts.
Redondo
From the outside, this estate doesn’t look like much—a set of doors that lead into a hill. But pass through them to find a giant swirling staircase that descends into an architectural subterranean lair. Tours dive deep into the cellars and taste through the majority of the winery’s range, including Portuguese varietally driven wines, like single-varietal Alvarinho and Touriga blends, and more global-minded wines, like Cabernet Sauvignon-dominant blends and Chardonnay.
Reguengos de Monsaraz
One of the region’s founding wineries, Herdade do Esporão can be identified by the stately white tower—which dates back to the 15th century—that crowns the property. In modern day, the property spans over 1,000 acres of 40 different grapes, spanning from well-known Touriga Nacional to rare Aragonez and Trincadeira. Taste them on the one-hour tour that leaves at various times throughout the day, camp out at the outdoor bar to steer your own tasting or order a glass at the on-site restaurant, which was recognized with both a Michelin Star and a Green Star from the guide.
Other Alentejo wineries to visit: Alvaro Castro, Herdade do Mouchão, Herdade das Servas
Where to Eat
Sit between ancient amphoras at Vila de Frade’s Restaurante País das Uvas while digging into equally old-rooted dishes, like hearty stews and roasted lamb’s head. Hotel Herdade da Malhadinha Nova, in Albernoa, offers an elegant dinner overlooking vineyards.
Where to Stay
While Pousada Mosteiro do Crato, in Crato, is now a 24-room boutique hotel, in a former life the building was home to a 14th-century monastery. Though the Gothic arches and historic stonework still remain, it’s been gussied up and now offers a large swimming pool, on-site restaurant and spa.
Alternatively, the Torre de Palma Wine Hotel in Vaiamonte is a secluded getaway, restored from the ruins of an Ancient Roman house and surrounded by olive groves. In Estremoz, cubism-influenced Dá Licença offers artful stays with bathtubs carved out of marble and art from the house gallery integrated into guest suites.
Madeira
The Portuguese archipelago is a rough 500-miles of the coast of Morocco, but it’s Portuguese through and through (just ask soccer star Cristiano Ronaldo, who grew up on the island). The wine industry here dates back to the Age of Exploration, when Portuguese nobles began docking in Madeira to stock up on wine and bring them to far-flung settlements. The trade has persisted, and both still and fortified wine production dots the island, along with scenic tasting rooms with exceptional views of the sea.
Câmara de Lobos
While Madeira makes up a miniscule percentage of Portuguese winemaking, Barbeito has been fervent about keeping the archipelago’s traditions alive. Little has changed since it opened in 1946. The team works with a tight roster of 120 grape growing families, many who have been harvesting the same plots for centuries. Everything is aged in a few tiny barrel warehouses on a steep hill overlooking the sea. Tours dig into what makes Madeira special, from the magic of lighter, drier rainwater Madeira to the ageability of Verdejo, and finish off with a full tasting to solidify the information.
São Vicente
One of the growing number of still-wine producers on the island, Quinta do Barbusano sits atop a perch in the dramatic São Vicente valley, where white and red grapes are cultivated on craggy, often-foggy slopes. Tours include a walk through the vineyards and a lunch of espetada (skewers of local meats). Wines explore the island’s wilder side, so expect liveliness, saltiness and minerality.
Other Madeira wineries to visit: Terras do Avô, Seiçal, Blandy’s
Where to Eat
In the surfer’s paradise of Paul do Mar, Maktub serves tasting menus with a toes-in-the-sand lean. Vila do Peixe, in Câmara de Lobos, focuses on rotating whole fish–whatever’s freshest out of the sea—served to a well-heeled crowd. Views are good, though that’s common in Madeira.
Where to Stay
The Cliff Bay Hotel is centralized, spacious and offers seemingly endless sunset views. Alternatively, consider the island’s rentals, either on AirBnB, VRBO or through local rental platforms. Madeira is a vacation destination for many expats and mainlanders, so slick pied-à-terres and holiday homes (like the Banana House) are common.
The Azores
archipelago’s western end, is extra-terrestrial in appearance, covered in rippled lava and jagged black volcanic basalt. Wines aren’t born out of green hills or straight rows of lush trellises. Instead, gnarled vines burst out of black rock, shaped by the rough Atlantic waters.
The work is worth the reward: white wines are kissed by the seaside and reds have energy and power, understandable considering the massive volcano that crowns the island. All work well with the fare served at the seafood shacks that line the coast.
Bandeiras
Despite the tumultuous terrain, Filipe Rocha and António Maçanita are making exacting, expressive and elegant wines deep rooted in Azorian history. They searched through ancient abandoned vineyards to find varieties that only exist on the island, brought them to a nursery and carefully coaxed them back from extinction.
In their tasting room—an architecturally-appointed space overlooking volcanic vineyards—they pour Azorian versions of Verdelho and Arinto and grapes like Isabella (a table grape) and Terrantez, which bears the same name as the mainland Portuguese grape, but more similar to Trousseau.
Madalena
This co-op brings together the handful of independent grape growers on the island who bottle their grapes under its label. While that may sound like a cottage project, it’s the largest and oldest winery in the Azores—back in 1917, bottles of Verdelho do Pico were found in the cellar of Czar Nicolas II. The tasting room is humble and manned by any one of the growers who contribute to the project. Wines span from briny whites to bright bubbles to volcanic-influenced Syrah.
Where to Eat
Local restaurants celebrate the small-but-mighty wine scene. Cella Bar, situated in an organically-shaped, all-wood space on the ocean in Madalena, offers a tasting menu with an explorative wine pairing. On the other side of town at O Petisca, locals dine on the sea’s bounty, including grilled limpets and charred octopus. Dozens of wines from maritime Portugal and back on the mainland line the shelves. For a more zeroed-in look on local fare, the restaurant at Azores Wine Co., just outside of Madalena, offers a six-course tasting menu that explores both land and sea, prepared in an open kitchen and paired with Antonio Macanita’s wines from around the country.
Where to Stay
The island is small and accommodations are few and far between. Azores Wine Co has a selection of design-forward, one- and two-bedroom suites on property that overlook the rocky vineyards and the dramatic oceanscape. Each is outfitted with kitchenettes (and wine-stocked minibars). If that’s booked, Pocinho Bay in Monte has hotel-style rooms and more spacious villas.
Lesser-Known Portuguese Wine Regions
Dao
Porto and the Douro are full of major-player wineries with gargantuan tourism budgets, but the Dao remains relatively humble. And while the Douro is centered around the river, Dao vineyards are scattered across the region between thick forests of eucalyptus. Visiting the region requires a bit more planning and grit to get around, though the rewards are worth the effort. Wine-wise, many make comparisons between Dao and Burgundy, largely thanks to the region’s penchant towards more subtle, finessed reds with a sense of place.
Wineries to visit: António Madeira, Quinta da Boavista, Vinha Paz
Bairrada
Bairrada tends to take a backseat to the bigger regions of Alentejo and Douro, which makes it an excellent destination for more curious connoisseurs. Baga, is the signature grape, shown off most commonly in concentrated, blackberry-driven wines, but also suave reds that nod more firmly towards Barolo and lithe sparkling wines, from pet-nat to blanc de noirs. Beyond wine, the geography offers beaches and mountains, while the cities boast palaces and one of the oldest universities in the world.
Wineries to visit: Filipa Pato, Luis Pato, Cooperative Agricola do Tavora
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Published: August 15, 2024
