The Azores archipelago, located in the middle of the Atlantic Ocean, harbors one of the world’s most remarkable wine-producing regions on Pico Island. This remote Portuguese territory has developed a unique viticultural tradition that defies conventional wine-growing wisdom, creating an extraordinary landscape where vines flourish in volcanic rock formations. The Pico Island Vineyard Culture represents a testament to human perseverance and adaptation, transforming seemingly inhospitable terrain into productive agricultural land over centuries of dedicated labor.

Pico Island’s Unique Volcanic Wine Landscape

The vineyards of Pico Island present a striking visual spectacle unlike any other wine region in the world. The landscape is characterized by thousands of small, rectangular stone enclosures called “currais,” built from black basalt rock extracted from ancient lava flows. These stone walls, which can reach heights of two meters, create a distinctive geometric pattern across the coastal slopes that is visible from both land and sea. The currais protect individual vines or small groups of vines from the harsh Atlantic winds and salt spray while absorbing heat during the day and releasing it at night, creating a microclimate favorable for grape cultivation.

The volcanic soil of Pico, known locally as “lajido,” consists of porous basalt rock that forces vine roots to penetrate deep into fissures in search of nutrients and water. This challenging growing environment produces grapes with concentrated flavors and distinctive mineral characteristics. The vineyards occupy a narrow coastal strip, primarily on the western side of the island, where the land slopes gently toward the ocean. This positioning allows the vines to benefit from reflected sunlight off the Atlantic waters while the volcanic rock radiates accumulated warmth.

The sheer scale of human effort required to create this landscape is staggering. Thousands of kilometers of stone walls were constructed by hand over generations, with farmers painstakingly clearing volcanic rock and building protective enclosures without the use of mortar. The terrain is so rocky that traditional plowing is impossible, and all viticultural work must be performed manually. This extraordinary landscape represents not just agricultural ingenuity but also a profound relationship between people and an unforgiving environment, where determination and innovation transformed volcanic wasteland into productive vineyard territory.

UNESCO World Heritage Status and Recognition

In 2004, the Landscape of the Pico Island Vineyard Culture was inscribed on the UNESCO World Heritage List, recognizing. Wondering which Azores island is best for your visit? Pico is certainly a top choice for wine enthusiasts.

Visitors to the island often combine vineyard tours with hiking Pico Mountain, which offers breathtaking views of the vineyard landscape below. its outstanding universal value as a cultural landscape. The designation acknowledged the exceptional testimony this landscape provides to a traditional way of life and land use that has persisted despite extremely challenging natural conditions. UNESCO specifically noted the unique small-scale field pattern created by the stone walls, the associated manor houses, wine cellars, churches, and ports that form an integrated cultural landscape reflecting centuries of human activity.

The World Heritage status recognizes several criteria that make Pico’s vineyards exceptional. The landscape represents an outstanding example of human interaction with a challenging environment, demonstrating how communities adapted traditional European viticultural practices to volcanic island conditions. The linear settlement pattern along the coast, with its associated architectural elements including relheiras (stone ramps for transporting wine barrels), maroiços (conical stone shelters), and wine-making structures, creates a comprehensive cultural system. The recognition also highlights the landscape’s aesthetic qualities and its role in preserving traditional knowledge and practices that might otherwise have been lost.

The UNESCO designation has brought increased attention to Pico’s wine heritage and has helped establish frameworks for conservation and sustainable tourism. Local authorities and communities have worked to maintain the integrity of the landscape while allowing for continued wine production and visitor access. The recognition has also sparked renewed interest in traditional grape varieties and wine-making methods, contributing to a renaissance in Pico’s wine industry. This international acknowledgment has transformed local perception of the vineyards from merely agricultural land to a treasured cultural heritage requiring protection and celebration.

Traditional Viticulture Methods and Terroir

The viticultural practices on Pico Island have remained largely unchanged for centuries, representing a living tradition passed down through generations of wine-makers. Vines are trained low to the ground using a system called “chão” or ground training, where canes are spread horizontally across the volcanic rock within the protective currais. This method keeps the grapes close to the heat-retaining basalt while protecting them from wind damage. All vineyard work, from pruning to harvesting, must be done by hand due to the rocky terrain and the confined spaces within the stone enclosures.

The primary grape variety cultivated on Pico is Verdelho, which has adapted exceptionally well to the island’s unique terroir over hundreds of years. This white grape produces wines ranging from dry table wines to sweet fortified wines, historically known as “Vinho de Cheiro” (aromatic wine). Other traditional varieties include Arinto dos Açores (also called Terrantez do Pico) and Bastardo, though Verdelho dominates production. The volcanic terroir imparts distinctive characteristics to these wines, including pronounced minerality, high acidity, and saline notes that reflect the proximity to the ocean and the composition of the basalt soil.

The wine-making process traditionally involved fermenting grapes in stone or wooden lagares (pressing tanks) and aging wines in large wooden casks or clay vessels. Many producers continue to use these traditional methods alongside modern techniques, maintaining a connection to historical practices while ensuring quality and consistency. The challenging growing conditions naturally limit yields, resulting in concentrated, characterful wines. The terroir’s influence extends beyond the grapes themselves; the entire ecosystem of stone walls, ocean influence, volcanic soil, and microclimate creates wines that are unmistakably expressions of Pico Island’s unique environment.

Visiting Pico’s Historic Wine Region Today

Visitors to Pico Island can explore the UNESCO-designated vineyard landscape through several well-marked routes and interpretation centers that provide context for this remarkable cultural heritage. The Wine Museum (Museu do Vinho) in Madalena serves as an excellent starting point, housed in a former Carmelite convent and offering comprehensive exhibits on the history, culture, and techniques of Pico wine production. The museum complex includes restored currais, traditional wine-making equipment, and interpretive displays that help visitors understand the landscape’s significance. Several walking trails wind through the vineyard areas, allowing close-up examination of the stone walls and vine-growing techniques.

Numerous small wine producers and cooperatives welcome visitors for tastings and cellar tours, providing opportunities to sample wines made from grapes grown in this unique terroir. The Cooperativa Vitivinícola da Ilha do Pico, established in 1949, represents many small growers and offers comprehensive tasting experiences. Boutique wineries such as Czar, Frei Gigante, and Curral Atlantis have gained recognition for producing high-quality wines that showcase the distinctive character of Pico’s volcanic terroir. Many producers offer guided tours of their currais and cellars, explaining traditional and contemporary wine-making approaches while visitors can observe the landscape firsthand.

The best time to visit Pico’s wine region is during the harvest season from late August through September, when the vineyards are most active and various wine-related festivals take place. The annual Wine Harvest Festival (Festa da Vindima) celebrates the vintage with traditional music, food, and wine. Throughout the year, the dramatic landscape provides exceptional photographic opportunities, particularly during golden hour when the black basalt walls create striking contrasts. Visitors should wear sturdy footwear when exploring the vineyards, as the volcanic rock terrain is uneven and challenging. The experience of walking among these ancient stone enclosures, with Mount Pico as a backdrop and the Atlantic stretching to the horizon, offers a profound connection to centuries of human endeavor and cultural heritage.

The Pico Island Vineyard Culture stands as one of the world’s most extraordinary examples of agricultural adaptation and cultural persistence. This UNESCO World Heritage site preserves not only a unique method of wine production but also a way of life that has shaped communities for generations. The landscape tells a story of human determination, where seemingly impossible conditions were transformed into productive vineyards through ingenuity, labor, and an intimate understanding of the environment. For wine enthusiasts, cultural heritage travelers, and anyone interested in remarkable human achievements, Pico’s vineyards offer an unforgettable experience that combines natural beauty, historical significance, and distinctive wines that literally taste of volcanic stone and Atlantic spray.

Thanks to its particular climatic characteristics, organic farming in the Azores is possible not only for “traditional” fruits and vegetables but also for products we westerners consider tropical such as bananas, pineapple, papaya, tea and coffee.

With its volcanic lands and a climate generally mild without peaks of extreme heat in the summer and without frost during winter, Azores are a really special place for cultivation, both in terms of variety and quantity of possible harvests.

Unfortunately however, despite these precious characteristics, cultivation has been largely abandoned over the years in favor of breeding of cows for dairy products (and related fodder fields), an activity which has been greatly pushed by European incentives. This has led to the absurd supply of industrially produced fruits and vegetables from the Continent, mainly from Spain.

Although the family habit of the small self-sufficient vegetable garden and orchard has never been lost, in recent years small family farms for the production and trade of local fruits and vegetables are growing again.

THE NEW TREND IN THE AZORES: ORGANIC PERMACULTURE

This new beginning was born under the dictates, now finally considered vital, of 0 miles products , organic permaculture way of growing fruits and vegetables.

Having chosen when we were living in our Italy years ago to turn to the purchase of local and organic fruit and vegetables, using one of the first activities with these characteristics – Agrispesa – born in 2003, being finally able of finding here the same opportunity to buy healthy food from small local producers made us feel at home.

Each island has a growing network of producers from whom you can buy directly, in the days of market or who are activating home delivery services.

Many initiatives are appearing every day, thanks to the good side of socials and new technologies, to inform, update, disseminate, protect and help develop the growth of this activity.

WHERE TO FIND ORGANIC FARMING PRODUCTS IN THE AZORES

One of these realities that is very active in cataloging and organizing organic farming in the Azores and all the efforts made by small farmers is Trybio, which also organizes seminars and events aimed both at informing locals and expats that there is an alternative to buying cheap and non-organic products in supermarkets, and to provide technical information (real collective lessons) on improving permaculture techniques by the members of the consortium.

Back to the land, then, with a healthier, more sustainable and ethical approach.

We already get supplies whenever possible from these small producers, you can do the same, we will all gain in health, including the earth!

At this link, you will find a list of certified organic farmers from which you can acquire products grown using organic farming techniques.

On a total of 2,000 m2 of surface, the project involves the construction of a modern building inspired by the old convents existing on the island, with the cloister and in the form of the old cisterns of the vineyards, designed by a team of Portuguese and English architects, awarded for the design of numerous skyscrapers around the world, explains the press release.

The new space will have a covered area of approximately 1,650 m2, of which approximately 1,000 m2 will be used for the production, wine-making, bottling, labeling and storage areas.

The project, estimated at 2.9 million euros, also includes an area dedicated to wine tourism, with five apartments and a conference room. The overall investment was considered of significant regional interest by the Azores government council.

“This investment will promote and give great visibility to Pico wines in Portugal and abroad, improving our viticulture and making wine tourism grow,” said Jose Antonio Soares, president of Magdalen Hall, cited in the note and ceremony, adding that “projects like the one we are launching today strengthen our potential in these structural areas and push us forward, increasing our entrepreneurial fabric, creating jobs and wealth in our county and our island”.

Founded in April 2014, the Azores Wine Company Azores Wine Company has developed a coherent project for the production of quality regional wines, largely destined for export both to the Portuguese mainland and abroad, with an eye to the local market, positioning the Azores as a wine region of excellence and with a strong identity.

In turn, the President of the Government highlighted the potential that the Azores natural heritage presents as a resource for the development of the region in various fields, indicating for example the new impetus that took place in the wine sector on the island of Pico.

“I am one of those who believe that we are able to monetize a large part of the heritage we have at various levels, transforming it into the active development of our region,” said Vasco Cordeiro, in an official statement.

The President of the Regional Council also stressed that the government has put in place measures to develop the potential of the wine industry in the region, encouraging the private initiative that exists in this sector, not only for the recovery of the environment and the landscape but also as an economic activity capable of generating wealth and employment.

“In the area declared by UNESCO as a World Heritage Site, that is, the vineyards at the foot of the Pico volcano, 10 years ago there were only 100 hectares in active production. Nowadays, if we count what is in production, and the projects under construction for the recovery of abandoned vineyards, we are talking about over 800 hectares of vineyards, “said Vasco Cordeiro.

The island of São Miguel is well known for tea in the Azores. It is also home to thermal springs whose mineral-rich waters give tea an intense purple color.

At the request of a cup of “special tea” at the Chalet da Tia Mercês, Paula Aguiar, the owner, fills a transparent jug from a tap protruding from a wall of the tea house. The peculiarity is that the water being thermal comes out naturally at 60 degrees centigrade, sufficient for the preparation of this particular tea.

At the beginning, the pitcher filling routine does not reveal anything strange, but in a short time the clear water begins to turn gray, then take on the tones of lavender and finally an intense purple hue. Green tea, macerating in volcanic water, loses its natural color to also take on the same curious shade.

Reacting with green tea rich in antioxidants, the iron and non-oxidized acid content in the exceptional volcanic water causes the mixture to refract light in a different wavelength, like a prism. The minerals in the water also ensure that the tea does not become bitter, even if left to macerate for a long time.

Purple tea, however, is just one of the many wonders that this unusual group of islands has to offer.

São Miguel is one of the nine islands of the Azores archipelago. Belonging to Portugal, this group of islands in the Atlantic Ocean is located about 1500 km west of Lisbon and 3600 km from the United States. All nine islands have volcanic origins and have thermal springs, however São Miguel has some of the most extraordinary of them.

The small town of Furnas, in the eastern part of the island of São Miguel, has prehistoric hot springs and fumaroles, bubbling mud pools, multi-colored geothermal fields and rippling streams against the backdrop of green mountains with lush vegetation. Just 40 minutes from the bustling capital Ponta Delgada, visitors can venture into the volcanic valley of Furnas and feel transported to another planet.The central part of the village hosts about thirty thermal reservoirs of different temperatures and chemical compositions, most of them with mineral and iron-rich water. Many of the hot springs, reminiscent of Yellowstone, are nestled in basins with high levels of sodium bicarbonate, boron, fluorine and traces of carbon dioxide.

For centuries, locals have used water from different hot springs for various activities such as cooking, cleaning and creating herbal infusions. Other springs, on the other hand, are marked by danger signs and are fenced with rocks: some are really too hot, and the gases that come out are harmful.

Beginning in the late 1700s, the premises began to pump water directly from the sources into special bathrooms. In 1866, a wealthy businessman built one of these bath houses inside a small summer house overlooking the surrounding fumaroles.

Today, that house has become the Chalet da Tia Mercês, the home of the “purple tea”. In the back of the shop there are still two stone carved bathtubs, originally used respectively by the family of the owner of the house and another available for anyone who needs a bathroom.

The room is now full of various types of products: locally grown tea (the only two tea plantations left in Europe are both in São Miguel), São Jorge coffee, cheeses from various islands, Portuguese pastries and muffins, spirits and wines.

Nobody knows exactly when the discovery of purple tea was made, but this bizarre drink is best enjoyed together with one of Aguiar’s artisan bakery products: the chocolate and banana pudding cake that is cooked underground in one of the nearby volcanic fumaroles!

PONTA DELGADA – SÃO MIGUEL

Ponta Delgada is a good place to go in the evening if you are looking for something to do and some nightlife, especially in the summer and when festivals or other celebrations are scheduled.

After a day of relaxation on the beach, or around the island, on an evening with good weather there are many clubs open and a good mix of tourists and locals to enjoy the evening.

There are three key areas where people gather. The first is easy to recognize and find. It is a large square located behind the arches visible on the waterfront. There are often small concerts by local musicians, outdoor bars and the lights of the cathedral which give the whole a magnificent appearance.

The second area is along the road that starts from the central square, where the best restaurants and cocktail bars are located.

The third area is on the water, or rather on the large pier where the marina is located and where cruise ships dock. This third area is known as Portas do Mar and has a good number of restaurants which are usually open late.

Portas do Mar is the cruise ship terminal and this is where most of the nightlife is located. There is often live music in the evening. There is a lot of space and it is not uncommon for much of the outdoor space to be used to host concerts and festivals.

ANGRA DO HEROISMO – TERCEIRA

Angra do Heroismo, the capital and largest inhabited center of the Island of Terceira, has been suffering for over 60 years from the presence of an American air and naval base built during the Second World War. The influence of the many military and marines is felt and as a result the locals (many emigrated and then returned to the island, or their offspring) have created bars and restaurants that are now the beating heart of the beautiful town.

HORTA – FAIAL

Despite being one of the smallest, the island of Faial has a beating heart which is its Marina. The fourth most visited in the world, by yachts, sailboats and boats of all kinds. Sailors have always stopped here during the Atlantic crossings and therefore there is no shortage of places to quench the thirst and entertain the people who stop here.

Horta is by nature a relatively calm place, and this reflects on its nightlife, which does not mean that there are not a good number of excellent places where you can relax and enjoy the best part of the day. Below is a non-exhaustive list of existing pubs, discos and cafes.Peter Café Sport

One of the most famous pubs in the world, where yacht crews and tourists of all nationalities enjoy a pleasant evening in a characteristic setting. In addition to having the best gin and tonic around, it also serves light snacks, and good quality hot dishes. The service is good even if the prices are a bit high (compared to the Azores average), as you will soon realize, it is always full. It is located in Rua Tenente Valadim, in front of the Marina di Horta on the road that goes to Porto Pim.

Clube Naval da Horta

It is the Aquatic Club pub, it serves light snacks and has a good environment, quite full of people of all kinds every weekend and throughout the summer season. Reasonable prices even if the service is a bit slow. There is an outdoor area with excellent views of the harbor, as well as the pool tables. Occasionally there is live music or karaoke sessions. It is in Rua Vasco da Gama, near the Fort Stª Cruz, also facing the Marina.

Marina Bar

It also serves light snacks, the prices are relatively high because it is part of the Peter Café company. Customers are mostly tourists during the week mainly due to its location, which, as its name indicates, in the corner of the Marina.

Oceanic Cafe

A thematic bar located inside a historic building (1822), immediately adjacent and overlooking the main entrance of Horta Marina, offers a variety of snacks, and rivers of beer. Live music, closes at 2.00 am.

Cafè do Porto Pim

Beautiful traditional restaurant bar (seriously, not bogus) located on the seafront of one of the most beautiful bays of all the Azores, Porto Pim. Unpretentious, you can spend a wonderful evening chatting with locals and tourists listening to the light noise of the waves lapping the (white!) Beach of the bay. Occasionally they organize Fado Nights, too.