Bacalhôa - Vinhos de Portugal — Attraction in Setúbal

A surreal experience awaits those who go on the tour of bacalhoa winery. The cost of the visit was cheap, but in reality there is no tour of vineyards or any view of the wine making process here. The only wine I saw came out of a bottle at the end of the tour. The tour consists of mostly walking through an art exhibition of various mid century modern furniture and the like, a selection of painted tiles spanning a millennia, and an “out of Africa” section. The explanation for why this art is on display in this winery is essentially the owner of the company is a rich art collector. That is supposed to be enough to answer any questions. As the tour continued I began to wonder if this benefactor was some kind of classic Bond villain. The out of Africa section is especially heinous. As I saw in several other reviews here, a very wide variety of African art is on display but curated in an offensive fashion that is very colonial in mindset. “Hakuna matada” from the lion king plays in the background as we look at a collection of masks and are told a box we are looking at is for the bones of a person. This section of the tour ends with an emphasis on what a “dangerous place” Africa is as we view many animal skulls stuck onto the branches of a tree. The guide states their rich benefactor spent a few years in South Africa and this is why he is interested in African art. This was very uncomfortable.

Next there is a poorly lit room with barrels of red wine aging on pallets, we are told the Gregorian monk chants being piped in over speakers serves a function to agitate the wine as it ages. More than a few barrels I brushed up against in the darkness were completely empty. Tiles hanging from the ceiling purported to be from the moorish period are shrouded in darkness.

I could go on. If you are curious about this lair and passing through the area, it is a cheap show. Certainly not worth a trip...

We arrived at the store, and we were very excited to visit such a relevant winery from the region. Unfortunately, the staff did not have the same positivity. We arrived and all the three employees from the store were outside in a benche. They look upset with our arrival. Inside, we were informed that the tours in the winery were already over for the day (what is totally fine). We asked about the wine tasting, and one of the employees said it was possible. We were 3 people, and the employees just brought us 3 cups to share between us with 2 wines to serve. What is quite disrespectful sharing cups in such a renowned place. Further to the event, we were sitting and talkinh about wine between us, and a couple arrived and asked to do the same tasting, 2 people received 6 cups (so no cup was re-used), plus some biscuits. Of course, this open space for questioning, as we had done nothing to receive such disrespectful treatment, we thought it was only because we interrupted the group break when we arrived. We ended up buying a bottle, although we were planning to buy more, but it would have been too "giving" after the weird treatment we received. I know that Bacalhôa is better than that. This comment is more...

If you want to visit a palace, the price is 10 EUR, BUT you need to make a reservation in advance [several days before]. It takes 1.5h to visit the palace. Available languages: English, Portuguese.

For the cyclists: be careful with this [see the photo below]. Small update:

All the visits start at Bacalhôa Winery Museum in Vila Nogueira de Azeitão, at the Wine Shop. You should be there 10 minutes before the trip starts. Bacalhôa Winery Museum and Bacalhôa Palace are different estates separated by 3 kilometers [see a map below]. The trip is made by the visitor's car, otherwise, you need to mention in your reservation that you don't have a car and they will use their bus (max - 6 customers).

Minimum number of people to do the tour is 2. For children under 12 years old is free of charge. Other tours:

Exhibition Bacalhôa Winery Museum: duration 60 minutes; €6.00/ per person Exhibition Bacalhôa Palace + Bacalhôa Winery Museum: duration 150 minutes; €14.00/ per person

[!]Important: don't be late and check carefully the schedule if you have several...