Wine tasting in the Algarve.

The Algarve has been making wine for a very long time, but it has always lived in the shadow of the coast. Inland, past the golf courses and the resorts, the limestone and clay soils around Lagoa, Portimao, Tavira and Lagos grow grapes found almost nowhere else, alongside familiar names like Negra Mole, Castelao and Siria. The results tend to be easy-drinking and food-friendly rather than showy, which suits the long lunches the region is built for.

A tasting at a working winery is a different afternoon to a beach day, and often a better one: walking the vines, seeing the cellar, hearing why a particular slope faces the way it does. If you would rather stay in town, the wine bars tucked into the old streets of Faro, Tavira, Olhao, Silves and Lagos pour the same bottles by the glass, usually alongside a plate of something local. Every listing here is a real place you can save, follow and check before you go, with honest reviews from people who actually visited, and we do not rank by who pays the most.