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The regions · Portugal

Lisboa: the wine that drinks the Atlantic breeze

The Lisboa wine region is a strip of about 150 kilometers along the coast of Portugal, which starts at Carcavelos beach, in the municipality of Cascais, and runs north. Until 2009, the commission that oversees it was called CVR da Estremadura. It holds nine denominations of origin, from Colares, with vines planted in sand, to Bucelas, the home of Arinto, plus a regional wine that carries Lisboa on the label.

131 labels in the search come from here107 reds · 19 whites · 5 rosés

Where it is and what the place is like

The region follows Portugal's western coast, around and north of the capital, in a strip about 40 kilometers wide. It takes in almost all of the Lisbon district and parts of the Leiria and Santarém districts. The Atlantic is everywhere: in the morning, the sea breeze brings moisture to the vines, and the CVR, the commission that controls and certifies the wines there, credits it with a salinity of its own in the wines. The soil mixes clay and limestone, and the sun is long. There are more than 10,000 hectares of certified vineyard.

Inland, the mountains make a difference. In Alenquer, the Serra de Montejunto blocks the strong sea winds, and the climate turns milder, with sunny afternoons and cool nights, which lets the grapes ripen slowly. Farther north, the Serras de Aire e Candeeiros shape the Encostas d'Aire. In Colares, between the Serra de Sintra and the ocean, the vines most exposed to the sea get cane fences to protect them.

The Atlantic with waves on the left, arrows of wind coming off the sea, sand dunes with low vines behind cane fences, a windmill and a mountain range with pine trees in the background.
fig. 1Lisboa: the Atlantic right there, vines planted in sand in Colares and the wind that comes in from the sea.

The region's grapes

The region works with lots of grapes, Portuguese and foreign. Among the main reds are Castelão, Aragonez (the same Tinta Roriz as in the Douro), Touriga Nacional, Syrah, Alicante Bouschet and Caladoc. Among the whites, Fernão Pires, Arinto, Malvasia-Rei, Seara-Nova, Vital and Moscatel Graúdo. In the Lisboa regional wine, the CVR says, producers are free in their choice of castas (that's what the Portuguese call grape varieties) and styles.

Some grapes are the face of a single place. Ramisco, a red, is the grape of Colares, and the local Malvasia is its white. Arinto rules in Bucelas, where it shares space, in controlled proportions, with Sercial (also called Esgana-Cão) and Rabo de Ovelha. Carcavelos uses Castelão, Trincadeira, Arinto, Galego Dourado and others, for its generoso wine. And in the Encostas d'Aire, white Fernão Pires joins red Trincadeira in Medieval de Ourém.

What wine comes from there

There's a bit of everything. In the Lisboa regional wine, the freedom of grapes and styles makes wine of every kind, and the CVR credits the sea breeze with a salty touch of its own. In the appellations, each one has its own way. Bucelas makes only white and sparkling wine. Colares makes a robust red from Ramisco and a salty, persistent white from Malvasia. Carcavelos makes generoso wine, a licoroso (a fortified wine, from the same family as Port). Óbidos goes from still wine to licoroso and sparkling. Lourinhã is an appellation for aguardente vínica, the spirit distilled from wine. And Medieval de Ourém blends 80% Fernão Pires with 20% Trincadeira.

What the label says

On a Portuguese label, DOC (Denominação de Origem Controlada, controlled designation of origin) is the most demanding step: it tells where the wine comes from and that it followed that place's rules on grapes, yield and production. In the Lisboa region there are nine: Carcavelos and Colares (both from 1908), Bucelas (1911), Encostas d'Aire and Óbidos (1986), Alenquer, Arruda and Torres Vedras (1989) and Lourinhã (1992). The 2021 Portuguese law that regulates the nine uses the European name, DOP (Denominação de Origem Protegida, protected designation of origin).

One step below is IG Lisboa, from 1993, which covers the entire region. It's what appears on the label as Vinho Regional Lisboa: guaranteed origin, with more freedom to choose grapes and style. Within the IG there's also the Estremadura subregion, the region's old name. The commission that certifies it all was born in 1989 as CVR da Estremadura and became CVR Lisboa in 2009.

Carcavelos has rules of its own. The law only allows the wine to be sold after at least 24 months in wood, meaning it rests a good while before reaching the shop, and the alcohol sits between 15% and 22%. The word generoso only appears on the label alongside the name of the appellation. In Colares, the vines are trained low, with the bottom wire no more than 40 centimeters off the ground.

What it pairs with

Bucelas Arinto is great with grilled fish, sardines, bacalhau à Brás and seafood. The Lisboa regional red goes well with roast chicken, pork loin, cozido (a meat and vegetable stew) and a Saturday feijoada (black bean stew). The firmer Colares red calls for kid goat or pot roast. And Carcavelos, a generoso, closes the night with pastel de nata, aged cheese or guava paste with cheese. All suggestions: liked another pairing? Go with that one.

Vines planted in sand

In Colares, near the sea, the vines grow in sandy ground, as the law itself calls this soil. At planting, tradition calls for burying the tip of the cutting in the layer of earth beneath the sand, and the vine grows pé franco, that is, on its own roots, ungrafted. The CVR says it was the sand that let Colares resist phylloxera, the plague that wiped out almost all of Europe's vineyards in the 19th century. Today there are about 17 hectares in this appellation.

Bucelas also has a story to tell. Its vineyards go back to Roman times, when the hills north of Lisbon supplied the city, then called Olisipo. According to the CVR, the white from there reached the English court as Bucellas or Charneco, and Shakespeare mentioned the wine in the play Henry VI. Carcavelos, nearly swallowed by the city, got a boost in the 18th century from the Marquis of Pombal and today is being revived with help from the municipal councils of Oeiras and Cascais.

The grapes in the labels from here

Across the 131 Lisboa labels in the search, the grapes that show up most. The number is how many labels use each one.

Touriga Nacional 71Castelão 53Syrah 50Tinta Roriz 40Alicante Bouschet 27Cabernet Sauvignon 20Aragonez 19Arinto 15

To start with: Lisboa wines by price range

The price range the house saw at big stores in Brazil, in the month shown. The price changes; the range tends to stay.

Throwing a party? How many bottles to buy →

Top rated from Lisboa

Average rating from the people who drank it (X-Wines), from 1 to 5. Tap to see the wine's page.

See the Lisboa labels in the search →

The no-fuss summary: Lisboa is wine with a sea breeze, from Arinto whites to Castelão reds. Try a Bucelas with a sardine and, if you come across a Colares, open it: it's wine from sand, a rare thing in the world.

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