Wine Tour Portugal

Lisbon is the capital of Portugal and offers you countless sights that you can discover and where you can relax. Lisbon is also the city where you will find beautiful Michelin restaurants and bistros, sometimes with a roof terrace, with delicious Portuguese dishes from all the regions of the country.

But let’s face it, discovering wines is what we as wine lovers have in common and Lisbon is the excellent starting point for your authentic wine tour through Portugal. The Lisbon wine region is the second largest wine region in Portugal and offers an unbelievably wide range of wines and grape varieties. In addition, the region has several DOCs – Denominação de Origem Controlada or the equivalent of the French AOC – which guarantees their quality.

Also, in terms of accommodation, Lisbon and the surrounding area are not lacking. In addition to beautiful hotels in the centre of the capital, some with a panoramic roof terrace, you also have a more authentic offer outside the city among the vineyards. From a winery with its own bed & breakfast to a wine hotel and wine chateau, the Lisbon wine region has everything to offer for an authentic wine experience.

After the start of your wine tour in Lisbon, you will continue to Portugal’s next wine region, the northern wine region located near and around the city of Porto and the Douro Valley, a unique wine region in itself. Porto is the second city in the country with its beautiful city centre and the hometown of Port wine. A fortified wine that you definitely want to taste during your wine tour. Sightseeing and delicious restaurants are not lacking here and you will taste some of the best and most unique wines that Portugal has to offer you.

Located in the Douro Valley, about 90 km from Porto, the wine region is unique not only for its location, but also for being one of the few wine regions in Europe to be listed by UNESCO. During your wine tour from winery to winery, through the northern wine areas, you will take part in wine tastings with guided tours and have the chance to capture the beautiful environments and landscapes with your camera.

After getting to know the northern wine region of Portugal with the Douro Valley and the city of Porto extensively during a few wonderful days, the next wine region that will open the doors for you is Alentejo. This wine region is located east and southeast of Lisbon with unique towns, villages and castles. Elvas is the city in this wine region not to be missed. It is the largest walled city in Portugal and Europe and is a UNESCO World Heritage Site.

Above all, Alentejo has some of the best red wines Portugal has to offer. Here you will be able to taste delicious wines made from different grape varieties including the Antão Vaz, the Arinto and the Roupeiro for the white grape varieties and the Aragonez, the Castelão and Trincadeira. Many wineries open their doors to visitors and with some you can even spend the night at the winery or wine chateau.

After touring the interior of Portugal and tasting beautiful wines, you will now continue to visit the southernmost region, the Algarve, known for the large city of Faro. This wine region is best known for its long wide beaches and clean greens, a must for any golf enthusiast who also likes unfamiliar fine wines.

Indeed, The Algarve is the least known wine region of Portugal and has a number of DOC classified wine regions such as Lagoa, Lagos, Portimão and Tavira with delicious quality wines thanks to its mild climate and an average of 3000 hours of sunshine per year. The main white grape varieties here are the Arinto, the Siria and the Malvasia Fina. Among the red grape varieties, the Castelão, the Negra Mole, and the Trincadeira are the most important.

After tasting some wines in one of the beautiful wineries of the region, a visit to Faro or just relaxing in a wellness hotel or a golf resort is well deserved. Wherever you want to spend the night in the Algarve, there are several options for an authentic overnight stay. A wine hotel, a bed & breakfast in the vineyards, or a luxury hotel with a golf course … you can name it.

If you have discovered Portugal as a wine country in its entirety, well then you are not there yet. Tucked somewhere in the middle of the Atlantic Ocean are some Portuguese volcanic islands rising from the ocean surface, namely Madeira and the Azores. Two unique wine regions, each with their own DOC wine region and quality wines. As a wine lover, you have to experience Madeira and the Azores. Thanks to its unique volcanic soil, unique oceanic climate, and unique winery history, these archipelagos produce perhaps the best unknown wines in Europe.

Madeira and the Azores are geologically quite young islands, which means mountainous interior and many rocky landscapes. This mainly means small-scale wine cultivation. You can even spend the night at some wineries. Hotels and bed & breakfasts are abundant. The destination is trendy as a tourist destination, which means that especially in the high season there will be only few rooms available. It is therefore best to book well in advance if you also want to go to Madeira and the Azores during your wine tour to Portugal.