Landscape of the Pico Island Vineyard Culture

Overview

The vineyard landscape of Pico is the coast of black lava on the western and northern shores of the island where, for five centuries, farmers have grown vines in thousands of tiny walled plots called currais, enclosed by dry-stone walls of basalt that protect them from wind and salt spray, a maze of black lines running back from the sea; UNESCO listed 987 hectares of it in 2004, with a buffer zone of 1,924, mostly in Madalena and the rest in São Roque.

The landscape includes the manor houses, cellars, warehouses and churches of the wine trade, the paths, wells, tide-wells and the boat ramps and ports from which the wine was shipped, all still in use; the interpretation centre at Lajido de Santa Luzia explains it, and the wine, the Verdelho that was famous in the 19th century, is made again.

History

Portuguese settlers, among them Franciscan and Carmelite friars, planted vines on the lava in the late 15th century, adapting to a terrain with no soil by building walls to trap the heat and keep off the wind; by the 19th century the island’s Verdelho was drunk at the courts of Europe and Russia, before oidium and phylloxera destroyed the vines in the 1850s and the islanders emigrated. The currais were abandoned by the thousand, replanted with hybrids, and have been recovered since the listing, which found the landscape exceptionally well preserved in materials, use and technique.

Visiting

The classic stretch is the Criação Velha and Lajido areas south and north of Madalena, where the walls run unbroken to the shore and the windmills of Criação Velha stand above them; a marked trail through the vineyards runs from the Madalena side along the coast, and the Lajido de Santa Luzia on the north coast has the interpretation centre in a restored cellar, the tide-wells and the red-shuttered warehouses of the old shipping village.

The cooperative winery in Madalena and the small producers along the coast open their cellars for tasting; the Museu do Vinho in the Carmelite convent of Madalena, among ancient dragon trees, tells the story. The ferry from Horta lands in Madalena, 7 km across the channel, and the mountain rises straight behind the vines.

Tips

• Walk the vineyard trail in the morning; the lava holds the heat and there is no shade among the walls.
• Verdelho is a dry white; the sweet fortified wine the island once exported is made again by a few houses and is worth asking for.
• The lava-rock swimming pools along the coast, at Criação Velha and Lajido, are the swim after the walk.
• Madalena is the base with the hotels, the ferry and the cooperative; Lajes and São Roque are quieter.

Nearby

• Madalena: the town at the ferry.
• Lajido de Santa Luzia and the interpretation centre: 12 km north-east.
• Mount Pico: rising behind the vineyards.
• Horta on Faial: 30 minutes by ferry.