Best wine bars in Lisbon to taste Portuguese wines

Portugal produces some of the most underrated wines in Europe, yet most visitors leave Lisbon having drunk only Vinho Verde from a tourist-menu carafion or a mass-market Douro at a hotel bar. The city has a genuinely excellent wine bar scene — small, knowledgeable, with pours that cost a fraction of what you would pay in London or Paris for equivalent quality. This guide covers the best spots, what to order, and how to string them together into an evening.

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Why Lisbon is a great city for wine exploration

Portugal has 14 wine regions, and Lisbon sits within striking distance of five of them: Lisbon DOC (Bucelas, Colares, Carcavelos, Alenquer), Setúbal (Moscatel, Palmela), Alentejo, Douro (port and table wines), and Vinho Verde to the north. The wine bar scene reflects this geography: Alentejo reds dominate (plummy, full-bodied, good value), Vinho Verde whites offer the aperitivo pour, and niche bottles from Colares or Carcavelos appear for the curious.

Prices are reasonable. A glass of quality Alentejo wine runs €4-7 at most independent bars. A half-bottle of a good single-estate red is €15-25. The tourist-facing wine bars near Rossio and Praça do Comércio charge more for less; the places listed below are where Lisbon residents actually drink.

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By the Wine — the benchmark

Address: Rua das Flores 41-43, Chiado
Hours: Daily 12:00-24:00
Prices: Glasses €4-12, bottles €18-80+

By the Wine is owned by José Maria da Fonseca, one of Portugal’s oldest and most respected wine producers (founded 1834, headquartered in Azeitão in the Setúbal region). The Chiado bar stocks their full portfolio alongside carefully chosen bottles from other producers. The space is elegant without being stuffy — dark wood, black marble counters, exposed stone walls — and the staff know their wines.

Start with the Periquita, a Setúbal classic at €4.50 a glass. The Domingos Soares Franco collection, made from single grape varieties, gives you a proper education in what Portuguese grapes taste like without blending. Ask about the Moscatel de Setúbal dessert wine: a 10-year-old version (glass ~€6) shows you why this wine was the toast of European courts in the 18th century.

The petiscos (Portuguese small plates) are genuinely good — the cold cuts board with Alentejo black pork ibérico and regional cheeses (€14) pairs well with a glass of Touriga Nacional. Reservations recommended at weekends.

Book a premium wine and tapas tasting in Lisbon

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Old Pharmacy Wine & Cheese

Address: Rua Poço dos Negros 77, Santos
Hours: Tue-Sun 17:00-24:00
Prices: Glasses €4-8, cheese/charcuterie boards €12-18

An actual 18th-century pharmacy converted into a wine bar, with the original wooden apothecary shelves now stacked with bottles. The Santos neighbourhood, a 15-minute walk from Chiado, is where locals eat and drink; tourists rarely make it this far south.

Old Pharmacy specialises in natural and low-intervention Portuguese wines — a growing movement with producers like Casal Figueira (Alenquer), Folias de Baco (Douro), and Aphros (Vinho Verde) leading the charge. If you usually drink conventional wine, the skin-contact “orange” wines here might be a surprise (earthy, textured, sometimes fizzy); ask staff to guide you toward something approachable if you’re new to naturals.

Cheese selection is excellent: Queijo da Serra da Estrela (soft, spoonable, sheep’s milk), Azeitão (similar but from Setúbal, slightly firmer), São João (aged cow’s milk from Alentejo). Pair a Serra da Estrela with a glass of Verdelho from the Azores for an unusual but very Portuguese combination.

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Wine Bar do Castelo

Address: Rua Bartolomeu de Gusmão 13, Castelo/Alfama
Hours: Daily 11:00-23:00
Prices: Glasses €4-10, bottles €20-60

Directly below São Jorge Castle, this small bar has a terrace with rooftop views over Alfama and the Tagus. The location makes it a tourist spot, but the wine list is more serious than the setting suggests.

The focus is regional diversity — they stock wines from all 14 Portuguese DOCs, not just the crowd-pleasing Alentejo and Douro. Ask for a flight: three 75ml pours chosen by region (€12) that walk you from a mineral Vinho Verde Loureiro, through a structured Dão red (Bairrada and Dão are the “Burgundy” of Portugal — leaner, more acidic, age-worthy), to a sweet Moscatel de Setúbal. This is genuinely educational.

The food menu is simple: cheese, charcuterie, bread with olive oil. Don’t expect a meal. Do expect good pours, views worth photographing, and a crowd that mixes travellers with locals from the Alfama neighbourhood. After visiting São Jorge Castle or doing the Alfama walking circuit, this is the obvious stop.

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BA Wine Bar — the natural wine stronghold

Address: Rua do Diário de Notícias 95, Bairro Alto
Hours: Mon-Sat 18:00-02:00
Prices: Glasses €4-9, bottles €15-55

BA stands for Bairro Alto, and this bar typifies the neighbourhood: slightly grungier than Chiado, younger crowd, music that gets louder after midnight. The wine list leans heavily natural and biodynamic, with a strong showing from the Tejo and Setúbal regions alongside better-known names from Douro.

The owner, Pedro, has been importing small-production bottles for over a decade and the selection rotates constantly. The blackboard lists that week’s arrivals. Come with curiosity rather than a specific request. The price point makes experimentation easy: €5 for a glass of something you have never heard of is a reasonable bet.

Bairro Alto is Lisbon’s traditional nightlife neighbourhood; the bar fills after 21:00. If you are doing the Bairro Alto nightlife circuit, start here with wine before moving to ginjinha and cocktail bars later.

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Solar dos Presuntos — for food-and-wine together

Address: Rua das Portas de Santo Antão 150, Baixa
Hours: Mon-Sat 12:00-23:00
Prices: Mains €18-35, wine list extensive

Solar dos Presuntos is technically a restaurant, but it has one of the most serious wine cellars in Lisbon — over 700 references, including vertical collections of Barca Velha (the most prestigious Portuguese red, from the Douro) going back to the 1970s. The presunto (ham, specifically from Alentejo black pigs) that gave the restaurant its name pairs brilliantly with a structured Dão red.

It is pricier than a wine bar: dinner for two with a mid-range bottle will cost €80-120. But if you want to combine serious food with serious wine in one sitting, this is the address. Reservations essential.

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Zé da Mouraria — unpretentious neighbourhood wine

Address: Rua João do Outeiro 24, Mouraria
Hours: Mon-Sat 09:00-21:00
Prices: Glasses €2-4, bifanas and petiscos €3-6

Not a wine bar in the curated sense, but a tasca (tavern) where Mouraria residents have been drinking house wine since the 1950s. The wine comes from unlabelled bottles — bulk Alentejo, good quality, €2.50 a glass. No English on the menu; point at what your neighbour is eating.

Zé da Mouraria matters because it is the other end of the Lisbon wine spectrum: not sommelier-guided, not natural, just everyday Portuguese wine culture at its most authentic. Arrive before 13:30 for lunch or you will miss the petiscos.

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A practical wine crawl

This works on foot and covers about 2.5 km:

17:30 — By the Wine, Chiado (two glasses each, petiscos board, €30-40 for two)
↓ 15-minute walk through Chiado
19:30 — BA Wine Bar, Bairro Alto (explore naturals, two glasses each, €20-28)
↓ Tram 28 or 20-minute walk uphill to Castelo
21:00 — Wine Bar do Castelo (terrace glass with a view, €8-12 each)
↓ Walk down through Alfama

Alternatively, end at Zé da Mouraria if you want a cheaper, more local close to the evening.

Join a guided 1-hour Portuguese wine tasting in Lisbon

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What wines to order: a quick reference

Alentejo reds: Big, fruity, warm-climate wines. Aragonez (Tempranillo), Trincadeira, Alicante Bouschet grapes. Easy to like. Good entry point.

Dão reds: Leaner, more acidic, aged in oak. Touriga Nacional-dominant. Better with food. Portugal’s answer to Burgundy.

Vinho Verde: Most served as whites (Loureiro, Alvarinho/Albariño). Light, fizzy, low alcohol (9-11%). Perfect summer aperitif.

Colares: Grown on sand dunes near Sintra, ungrafted vines surviving phylloxera. Ramisco grape. Very tannic when young, magnificent when aged. Hard to find; a bottle at Wine Bar do Castelo is a treat.

Moscatel de Setúbal: Fortified, sweet, amber or tawny-coloured. 20-year versions taste of dried apricot, orange peel, honey. Serve chilled as dessert wine or aperitif.

Port (Douro): Available everywhere but not a Lisbon speciality. Try it at port wine tasting sessions if you want to go deep; wine bars here tend to focus on table wines.

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Practical tips

Reservations: By the Wine and Solar dos Presuntos need booking at weekends. Other bars are walk-in only.

Language: All listed bars have English-speaking staff. Menus are typically bilingual.

Wine shop to buy bottles: Garrafeira Nacional (Rua Santa Catarina 28, Chiado) has the city’s best selection — thousands of references, staff who know the stock, fair prices. Buy bottles to take home from here rather than airport shops.

Couvert charges: Wine bars rarely add couvert (the bread-and-olives charge that restaurants sometimes add automatically). Confirm before ordering if worried. See our restaurant couvert scam guide for what to watch for.

When to visit: Late afternoon (17:00-19:00) is quieter. After 20:00 on Fridays and Saturdays these bars fill up. Bairro Alto and Chiado are busiest; Santos neighbourhood bars have more breathing room.

For organised tastings with a sommelier — good if you want structured education rather than just drinking — see the wine tasting experiences guide.

Join a food and wine walking tour through Lisbon’s best neighbourhoods

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Getting to the wine bars

All listed bars are walkable from central Lisbon or served by public transport:

• Chiado (By the Wine, Old Pharmacy area): Metro Baixa-Chiado (green/blue line), exit Chiado. Or tram 28 from Martim Moniz.
• Bairro Alto (BA Wine Bar): 5-minute walk uphill from Chiado metro.
• Castelo/Alfama (Wine Bar do Castelo): Tuk-tuk from Baixa, or 25-minute walk uphill. Bus 737 from Praça da Figueira.
• Mouraria (Zé da Mouraria): Metro Martim Moniz (green line).

For transport logistics including the Viva Viagem card and bus routes, see our getting around Lisbon guide.

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Connecting wine bars to the rest of your trip

Wine bars pair naturally with Lisbon’s food scene. After tasting Portuguese wines here, consider:

• Day trip to Azeitão: Visit the José Maria da Fonseca estate directly — see Moscatel de Setúbal guide
• Alentejo wine day trip: Go to the source of those Alentejo reds — see Alentejo wine day trip
• Food context: Pairing wine with petiscos and bifanas grounds you in Portuguese food culture — see where to eat in Lisbon
• Planning your full trip: First-time Lisbon tips and how many days in Lisbon

The Lisboa Card does not cover wine bars, but it covers the museums and transport you’ll use to get between them.