Wine trail · Portugal

Costa da Caparica: Surf, Sand & 4,000 Years of Wine

1. Caparica Beach Wine Crawl 1 2. Sunset Moscatel & Phoenician Dreams 2 3. Azeitão — Portugal's First Bottled Wine & Royal Palace Cellars 3 4. Arrábida — Limestone Cliffs, Roman Ruins & Moscatel Vineyards 4 20 km 1. Caparica Beach Wine Crawl 1 2. Sunset Moscatel & Phoenician Dreams 2 3. Azeitão — Portugal's First Bottled Wine & Royal Palace Cellars 3 4. Arrábida — Limestone Cliffs, Roman Ruins & Moscatel Vineyards 4 50 km

Two days where Atlantic surf culture collides with one of Europe's oldest wine regions.

2days

Easyeffort

4stops

Best time May-October

The stops

  1. Tasting · Price: moderate Caparica Beach Wine Crawl Costa da Caparica is a surf town where nobody expects serious wine — which is exactly why it works. The first wine bar only opened recently, natural wine is flowing, and the seafood-to-wine pairing ratio might be Portugal's best kept secret. Arinto whites from 30km away meet fresh-caught fish from 30 metres away.
  2. Tasting · Price: low Sunset Moscatel & Phoenician Dreams The Phoenicians sailed past this exact coastline 3,000 years ago, bringing Muscat grapes to the Setúbal Peninsula. Louis XIV served the resulting wine at Versailles. Now you're sitting on a beach with a bottle of 20-year Moscatel de Setúbal, watching the same Atlantic sunset.
  3. Tour · Price: moderate Azeitão — Portugal's First Bottled Wine & Royal Palace Cellars Vila Nogueira de Azeitão is where Portuguese wine went from barrels to bottles. José Maria da Fonseca founded his winery here in 1834 and created Periquita — Portugal's first branded bottled red wine. Across the road, Bacalhôa occupies a 15th-century royal palace with Renaissance azulejos.
  4. Adventure · Price: moderate Arrábida — Limestone Cliffs, Roman Ruins & Moscatel Vineyards The Serra da Arrábida drops 500 metres into turquoise water. On the northern slopes, sheltered from Atlantic wind by limestone, Moscatel de Setúbal grapes have grown since before the Romans built their garum factories on the coast below.

The story

Start barefoot on Caparica's endless beach with a glass of wine that Phoenicians planted 4,000 years ago. End at a 15th-century royal palace winery overlooking limestone cliffs where Moscatel grapes have grown since before Portugal existed.