Colares

West of Sintra, between the mountain and the sea, Colares keeps one of Portugal’s strangest wine traditions: vines planted directly in beach sand, their roots reaching down to the clay below, producing small quantities of wine that taste of the Atlantic. Around them the parish runs all the way to Cabo da Roca — the westernmost point of the European mainland.

Wine grown on the sand

The Colares wine region is tiny, and its methods are like nowhere else: the ramisco grape grows ungrafted in the dunes near Praia das Maçãs and Azenhas do Mar, sheltered from the wind by wattle fences, and the village’s cooperative winery has pressed it since 1931. The coastline that grows the wine is dramatic in itself — Azenhas do Mar stacked on its cliff, the great beach of Praia Grande, and the Cabo da Roca lighthouse at the end of the land. The town of Sintra and its palaces lie just over the hill.

What to see

• The sand vineyards and the cooperative winery
• The village of Azenhas do Mar on its cliff
• The beaches of Praia Grande and Praia das Maçãs
• The Cabo da Roca lighthouse, Europe’s western edge
• The old streets and parish church of Colares

Practical information

Colares stands in the Sintra municipality, on the Atlantic coast west of Lisbon, reached by road over the Serra from Sintra town. The coast is windy in all seasons: bring a windproof layer, wear solid shoes on the cliff paths, and check the winery’s visiting days before the drive.

Image credit: Azenhas do Mar by F nando — CC BY-SA 3.0, via Wikimedia Commons.