Lisbon Wine Estates Tour

Private Wine Tour

Day trip to Lisbon wine country with private transport from Lisbon. Explore the Vinhos de Lisboa wine region by visiting two top family-run wineries and enjoying a private wine-pairing lunch with the owners of your second winery.

Wines of Lisbon

The wine region north of Lisbon, today known as Vinhos de Lisboa, has a long history of producing excellent wines. During the heydey of the Portuguese wine trade in England, Port wine and Lisbon wine were the two most respected Portuguese export wines. As the global wine world has rediscovered Portugal and its wines in the last few decades, the wine regions near Lisbon have received renewed attention. New wineries have been started, forgotten grapes have been resurrected, and the old guard of producers who remained in the 21st century have found themselves in the enviable position of being ahead of the curve.

A Day in Lisbon Wine Country

Private transfer to Lisbon wine country
Quinta do Sanguinhal wine tasting
Quinta de Chocapalha visit & wine-pairing lunch
Private transfer back to Lisbon

Quinta do Sanguinhal Wine Tasting

Of the storied producers that remain in the Vinos de Lisboa region, Quinta do Sanguinhal occupies a category of its own. The winery has existed since the 19th century and has been owned by Pereira da Fonseca family for a century. The vineyards lie in the Óbidos district, some just a few miles from the Atlantic Ocean. Three quintas make wine at Sanguinhal, with each line bottled under the name of the estate.

Single estate bottlings and a wide range of grapes mean Sanguinhal produces many different wines. The most remarkable are those that highlight Portuguese grapes and the unique terroir of the Óbidos district, where sandy and clay soils are found and the climate is influenced by the Atlantic Ocean and the nearby mountains. Sanguinhal is best known today for their red wines made from Portuguese grapes like Aragonez, Touriga Nacional and Castelão. The top reds are aged for years in barrel and bottle before release. These wines’ power and complexity are balanced by their freshness. Sanguinhal white wines make use of the unusual Portuguese grape called Vital as well as Arinto, Fernão Pires, and international grapes like Chardonnay. Lisbon was traditionally a white wine producing region, and Sanguinhal’s wines show why, combining Atlantic freshness with great fruit and aging potential.

Sanguinhal has a long history of producing fortified wines and brandies. The fortified wines are a fascinating glimpse into the past, when many Portuguese wines were fortified for export and stored in large barrels. The old distillation equipment is on display at the winery, and brandy and bagaceira (grappa) production continues at Sanguinhal.

Quinta de Chocapalha Visit & Wine-pairing Lunch

Wine has been produced at Quinta de Chocapalha for hundreds of years, but when the Tavares da Silva family purchased the estate in the 1980s it was producing low-quality bulk wine. The family replanted and grafted vines, seeing the potential of the terroir, and they began bottling wine in 2000. Meanwhile their youngest daughter Sandra Tavares had made a name for herself as a winemaker at Quinta Vale Dona María in the Douro. Sandra and her husband now own the legendary Wine & Soul winery in the Douro. She is the chief winemaker at Chocapalha, focusing on single plots and combining local knowledge and tradition with modern winemaking techniques. Sandra has used her talents to make Quinta de Chocapalha one of the most respected wineries in the Lisbon area.

Join the Tavares da Silva family for lunch at Quinta de Chocapalha. You’ll have the chance to see how their wines pair with Portuguese cuisine while eating with the enchanting family and getting an inside perspective on their wines.

Private transfer back to Lisbon.