Portugal is quietly one of the most exciting natural wine countries in the world, and most visitors leave without realising it. Lisbon has a growing natural wine scene, with a handful of addresses worth knowing. Here are the main options, and why one of them stands apart from the rest.
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The natural wine scene in Lisbon: a quick map
Lisbon has several good addresses for natural wine. Black Sheep, in Príncipe Real, is a small bar and bottle shop with a well-curated selection of Portuguese and European natural wines, a lively spot in one of the city’s most fashionable neighbourhoods. Red Nose, in Campo de Ourique, is a quieter, neighbourhood wine bar with an accessible selection and a relaxed feel. Both are worth knowing. Neither of them, however, does quite what POP does.
Why Portugal is a natural wine paradise
Natural wine has found an especially natural home in Portugal. The country never lost its connection to its indigenous vines, over 250 of them, found nowhere else on the planet. Grape names like Baga, Arinto, Alfrocheiro, Encruzado and Loureiro offer flavours the rest of the wine world cannot replicate. Add to this a tradition of talha winemaking in the Alentejo, fermenting grapes in clay amphorae unchanged since the Romans, and you have a wine culture that was natural long before the word became fashionable.
What you will find at POP: a real portrait of Portuguese natural wine
POP’s selection covers the full range of what Portuguese natural wine can be. Among the whites: Fiuza Lavasas, Quinta das Razas, Darei from the Dão, Fitapreta from the Alentejo, each one a different expression of Portugal’s extraordinary white grape diversity. Among the reds: Kompassu, Tinto Ilimitado, Quinta do Piloto, Lalinha from Bairrada (made from the age-worthy Baga grape), Viúva Gomes, Capucha from Torres Vedras. Among the pétillants and oranges: Raza (a golden pet-nat with a stunning botanical label), Terrunho, Serra Oca. And for something rare: old vintages and carefully selected Port from Vieira de Sousa, including a 1985 vintage that speaks for itself.
What makes POP different from Lisbon’s other wine addresses
POP is a wine shop first, not a bar. That distinction matters: the prices are retail, not bar markup. You can taste, be guided by owner Elliot through the selection, and take home whatever you choose at honest prices. No other address in Lisbon combines that level of personal curation with the ability to also pick up muxama, conservas Tricana and artisan cheeses alongside your wine, making POP the only place in the city where a full Portuguese gourmet experience comes together under one roof, at neighbourhood prices.
The shop also sits a hundred metres from the Miradouro da Senhora do Monte, one of the finest viewpoints in Lisbon, where you can take your bottle and a borrowed glass and watch the sunset over the city.
POP, Rua da Senhora do Monte 38C, Graça, Lisbon. Open daily from 2pm.