Sintra Wine Tasting: A Guide to Colares Wine and Our Wine Tours (2026)
Most people come to Sintra for the palaces. Fewer know that the same hills run down to one of the oldest and smallest demarcated wine regions in Europe, where vines grow ungrafted in beach sand a few hundred metres from the Atlantic. A Sintra wine tasting is the easiest way to fit that into a day of sightseeing, and we include one in several of our private tours. This guide is for travellers who want to know what Colares wine actually is, what a tasting or cellar visit involves, and which of our tours makes sense depending on how much palace time they want alongside the wine.
What is Colares wine?
Colares is a village on the coast west of Sintra, and the wine region around it was demarcated in 1908, one of the first in Portugal after the Douro. Its claim to fame is the soil. The vineyards sit on deep sand dunes over a layer of clay, and because the phylloxera louse cannot survive in sand, the vines here were never destroyed in the 19th-century plague that wiped out the rest of Europe. They are still planted on their own roots, ungrafted, which is a requirement of the appellation and almost unheard of anywhere else. Growers dig down through the sand to reach the clay, plant the vine there, and then train it low along the ground so the Atlantic wind does not tear it apart. Walking through a Colares vineyard looks nothing like Bordeaux or the Douro; it looks like someone has planted a beach.
The red grape is Ramisco, grown nowhere else in the world, and it makes wines that are pale, high in acid, firmly tannic and built to age for decades. The whites are mostly Malvasia de Colares and Arinto, saline and waxy, with a citrus edge that comes straight from the sea air. Neither is a crowd-pleasing style on the first sip, which is why a tasting with someone explaining what you are drinking is worth far more than buying a bottle blind.
The region is tiny. At its peak, when the Adega Regional de Colares cooperative was founded in 1931, there were around 2,000 hectares under vine. Today there are roughly 26. Holiday homes and the difficulty of farming in sand did most of the damage, and the handful of producers left, the cooperative and a few private cellars such as Adega Viúva Gomes, are keeping a style of wine alive that would otherwise have disappeared.
What a Sintra wine tasting involves
Our tastings take place at the Adega Regional de Colares, the cooperative winery in the village. The cellar is the point as much as the wine: it is a long, cool building lined with enormous old wooden vats, some of them made from mahogany and other tropical woods brought back from the Portuguese colonies, and the wines are still aged in them. A visit runs through the history of the region, the sand-planted vines, the ageing process and then a guided tasting of the cooperative’s reds and whites, usually with a chance to buy bottles at cellar prices. Expect to spend around an hour to an hour and a half there. It suits complete beginners as well as people who know their wine, and children are welcome; the winery is a working building rather than a tasting bar.
Which tour is right for you
We run six private tours that include a Sintra wine tasting. They differ in how much time goes to palaces, coast and wine, so choose by what matters most to your group.
Wine first: Sintra Wine Experience
The Sintra Wine Experience is our full-day tour built around the Colares cellar, combined with Sintra village, the cliff village of Azenhas do Mar, Cabo da Roca, Guincho beach and Cascais. It runs eight hours from 9:00 with pickup at your address. Pricing is per person and drops with group size: €339.20 each for two people, €265 each for three or four, and €201.40 each for five to eight, with children aged 7 to 12 at €95.40. Lunch is not included. This is the tour for people who would rather see the coast and the vineyards than queue for a palace.
Same route, simpler price: Sintra Cellar Visit and Wine Tasting
The Sintra Cellar Visit and Wine Tasting covers the same stops, Azenhas do Mar, Cascais, Guincho, Cabo da Roca and the Colares cellar, over the same eight hours from 9:00, priced from €147.34 for one adult, €63.60 for teenagers and €47.70 for children aged 7 to 12. Lunch is not included. The itinerary is essentially the same as the Wine Experience; ask us which arrangement fits your dates and group.
Palace plus wine: Pena Palace Tour and Wine Tasting
If Pena Palace is non-negotiable, the Sintra Pena Palace Tour and Wine Tasting puts the palace first thing in the morning, starting at 8:00, then Sintra village, the wine tasting, Cabo da Roca, Guincho and Cascais. It is priced from €169.60 for one adult, with the Pena Palace ticket included, children aged 7 to 17 at €106 and infants at €53. We have written before about why Pena Palace is worth doing with a guide; this tour is the answer for people who want that and a glass of Ramisco in the same day.
Castle plus wine: Wine Tasting and Moorish Castle
The Wine Tasting and Moorish Castle in Sintra swaps the palace for the 8th-century castle walls above Sintra, which have the best views in the hills and a fraction of Pena’s queues. Same eight hours from 8:00, same stops on the coast, priced from €169.60 for one adult with the castle ticket included, children aged 7 to 12 at €106 and infants at €53. It is the better choice for families who want to walk rather than tour rooms, and for anyone visiting in July or August when Pena is at its busiest.
Regaleira, wine and lunch included
The Private Sintra Tour with Wine Tasting and Regaleira Experience is the most complete of the wine tours. It includes entrance to Quinta da Regaleira with its initiation well and tunnels, the wine tasting, a regional lunch, Cabo da Roca, Guincho and Cascais, over eight hours from 9:00. It is priced per person at €320 each for two adults, €250 each for three or four people and €190 each for five to fourteen, with children aged 7 to 12 at €90 and infants at €45. Because lunch and the Regaleira ticket are in the price, it works out well for groups of four or more.
Beaches and wine
The Sintra Beaches with Wine Tasting is a coastal day for summer visitors who want the Sintra beaches with a tasting of the regional DOC wine, priced from €127.20 for one adult, €67.84 for children aged 7 to 12 and €36.04 for infants. Ask us about timings when you book, as this one is arranged around the beach and the tide rather than the palaces.
Practical tips for a Sintra wine tasting
Eat something first. The tasting normally falls late morning or early afternoon, and Colares reds are tannic. On the tours where lunch is not included, our guides will time a stop in Azenhas do Mar or Cascais around it; tell us if you would rather eat before or after the cellar.
Bring a layer. The cellar is cool even in August, and Cabo da Roca and the Colares coast are windy year-round.
Buying bottles: the cooperative sells directly and prices are lower than in Lisbon shops. Colares wine is not widely exported, so if you like it, this is the place to buy.
Designated drivers are not your problem. All of these are private tours with our driver-guide at the wheel, which is the main reason people choose a tour over renting a car for a wine day.
Season: the vineyards are at their best from late spring, when the vines are in leaf along the sand, to the harvest in September and October. Winter visits still include the cellar and tasting, and the coast is empty.
Frequently asked questions
Is the wine tasting suitable for people who do not drink?
Yes. The cellar visit and the history of the region are the bulk of the experience, and non-drinkers and children come along on the same tour. Let us know in advance and the tasting will be adjusted.
How many wines are tasted?
A guided tasting of the cooperative’s reds and whites, typically three to four wines. If you want to taste older vintages or a wider range, tell us when you book and we will ask the winery what is available.
Can we combine a wine tasting with Pena Palace and Regaleira on the same day?
Pena plus wine and Regaleira plus wine are both existing tours. Doing both palaces and the cellar in eight hours is tight; if you want all three, contact us and we will suggest either a longer day or dropping the coast.
Where does the tour start?
All of the wine tours include pickup and drop-off at your address in Lisbon, Sintra or Cascais within a 30 km radius. Beyond that there is a €20 supplement.
Ready to book?
The Sintra Wine Experience is the tour to book if the wine is the point of the day, and the Pena Palace Tour and Wine Tasting if you want the palace as well. If you are not sure which fits your group, or you want to combine a tasting with a different set of stops from our Sintra must-see list, contact us and we will put the day together.