Algarve Wine

When I arrived in the Algarve over 20 years ago, there didn’t feel like there was a wine scene here. Sure, the Alentejo and Douro regions were flourishing and had their very own sections in Continente and other supermarkets, but Algarve wine? Not so much. Skip to today and we have restaurants that JUST serve Algarvian wine. Check out Bica Velha in Loulé – last time I was there they just had Algarve wines which were wonderful.

A year ago I ventured out on a mission to discover the wine farms here and experience some good old eno-tourism. Having grown up in Cape Town I was well versed in wine tours. A great weekend out involved grabbing a designated driver and a bunch of alcohol abusing friends and we’d go and educate ourselves in the ways of wine in places with names like Stellenbosch, Franschhoek and Paarl. You weren’t supposed to actually swallow the wine, just taste and spit but really who does that? 

Slick and professional vineyards, restaurant and wine tasting

My cousin and I planned to visit three farms in the Algarve. Knowing how things work here, I felt a little uneasy that we hadn’t really booked, but that exact fact was going to add to the drama of the YouTube video (yup it was a working excursion). Imagine if all the farms were closed? We struck it lucky with our first choice, heading over to Quinta dos Santos near Carvoeiro and it reminded me of Boschendal and a mixture of other gorgeous farms from my youth in Cape Town. Funny that, I learned the owners were South African! We sampled a small beer (yes they have a brewery on their wine farm too). We couldn’t try more than one each, as tastings were strangely only at a certain time. Odd. Lunch arrived with three small samples of wine which was great. Just remember, you’ll pay handsomely for the experience, but it’s a good experience.

Super friendly wine farm in the Algarve

Morgado do Quintao were wonderfully welcoming and squeezed us in between their regularly planned drinking (sorry TASTING) sessions. I can’t say enough great things about this place, our hostess was so warm, friendly and giving of her time, even showing us the inner workings of the place, the bottling room and other tidbits behind the scenes. Unusually they ferment some of their wines in clay casks – I’m clearly not into the wine scene anymore as I had never heard of this technique before. 

A wine farm in Albufeira?

We moved onto tourist central… Albufeira. I’m not a huge fan of Albufeira but there are some wonderful things going on down there – great stand up paddling, excellent night clubs and a surf machine! We weren’t there for that, but we did enter a secret garden of delight after gliding up the drive of Quinta do Canhoto (I can relate as “canhoto” means left handed in Portuguese and I’m… left handed!). It honestly did feel like a new hidden world that I had never discovered as for years I had driven straight past the gate, but never realized that there was a world class wine farm right there. The tasting room was super well organized, modern, spacious and the owning family who served us were delightful. They have owned this farm for over 200 years and their pride, tradition and warmth really come through. 

My cousin and I had to soak up all these little tastings with some good, hearty Portuguese chicken piri piri, so we ducked down the road to the Algarve’s mecca of chicken piri-piri: Guia. It’s a fascinating site seeing hundreds of people queuing for a simple dish that you can get anywhere in the country, but we did. If you’ve never been, it’s quite an experience. Essentially, I call them chicken factories, but there are probably about three really large chicken restaurants in Guia – the original is Ramirez which has grown into a large sprawling restaurant. Teodosio’s is a little further up the road towards Tunes and a few others are dotted about Guia. Have a go but remember, Guia is just as good as your local chicken shack, but it’s a different experience.

The Algarve wine scene

The Algarve wine scene is really a thing, complete with wine shows, great access to Algarvian wines at bottle stores and supermarkets and specialized shops. The local tourism board has even designed a proper leaflet for you. I have also done a little research – check this map below – it’s a start!