Winery · Pico Island

Criação Velha UNESCO Vineyards

UNESCO 2004 — Verdelho vines in stone-walled currais on Pico's volcanic slopes — basalt terraces that've sheltered 500 years of winemaking from Atlantic gales while 15th-century methods endure.

What to do there

AdventureCriação Velha UNESCO VineyardsFlemish settlers arrived on Pico in the 15th century and started growing Verdelho in bare volcanic basalt. They ferried soil from Faial by sailboat — one pocketful at a time — and poured it into holes drilled in lava. The reed palisade walls they built to block Atlantic gales, laid end to end, would circle the equator twice. UNESCO inscribed this landscape in 2004. When Czar Nicholas II was executed in 1917, bottles of Pico Verdelho were found in the Winter Palace cellars. The roots grow 30 meters through basalt until they reach saltwater caves — the salt in the wine is the ocean itself.

Wineries nearby

Winery · Madalena Cooperativa Vitivinícola da Ilha do Pico Picowines — largest & oldest Azores producer — Pico's volcanic Verdelho in a tasting room where staff guides you through 500 years of island terroir preserved in UNESCO stone walls.
Winery · Azores Pico Island Volcanic Vineyards Pico Island UNESCO World Heritage vineyards (2004)—volcanic stone walls + 300-year Verdelho wine tradition in Azores archipelago.