Wine not? — Restaurant in Lisbon

My wife and I have enjoyed fabulous Portuguese wine over the years as we’ve been coming to Lisbon since 2017. We are now spending six months a year in Lisbon.

We had just finished our supper and noticed this wine bar close by. We were just checking out wine bars and thought we would check out Wine Not? for a future wine experience. We were greeted by Andre. His picture is in one of those photographs that we attached to the review. He was very friendly and gave us a long list of wines that were available at the bar. The place is very beautiful. It has a definite lovely wine theme in the decoration. I have attached some photographs to show the decor. We were quite surprised that the wines were quite reasonably priced.

We decide to stay and enjoy a glass of wine in the bar area at the back. We explained what we are looking for, and the staff member asked if he could choose what we should have. We said yes. We had a taste of the wine and it was absolutely fabulous and something that we had not experienced in Portugal.

We decided to have that wine. It had a lovely complex taste. It happened to be a Malbec wine from Portugal. Andre explained that the callback plants were sent to Argentina. Portugal the Malbec vines became extinct. Portugal then brought some of the vines from Argentina and graphed onto a Hardy stock. We have experienced the Argentinian Malbec wine. This was far better than what we had experienced in the past.

We were so grateful for that explanation of the wine history. We enjoy sitting at the bar and hearing this lovely happy voices in the restaurant.

They have absolutely beautiful looking desserts are served with a beautiful presentation on the plate.

We will definitely come back. Our regular wine bar has changed hands and has completely changed the atmosphere. It is wonderful to have a new...

A simple and enjoyable formula; good quality, simple food with fresh local ingredients, and a broad range of high quality wines at a reasonable price.

I had been hoping to visit Wine Not for several months and I'm pleased the moment eventually arrived.

The wine range is supplied by a well known high volume producer, many of the wines bottled by Casa Ermelinda, in an exclusive arrangement with the restaurant. The range and variety is impressive, from sparkling whites to deep garnet coloured reds. Almost every major grape variety is represented.

My favourite was a rich oaky red 2019 Alicante Bouschet Reserva 15% alcohol bursting with vanilla and jammy plummy berry fruit notes.

We opted for quick and simply food, an impressive sharing platter of meats and cheeses with a cinnamon honey garnish and a fig and presunte ham salad. Beautifully presented and good quality.

Service was friendly and welcoming, and reasonably quick.

So overall a good experience and we would return.

It's weaknesses were the waitrons lack of depth of knowledge of the winery, both had joined relatively recently and neither had visited the Vineyard, it didn't spoil the experience, but it felt like a missed opportunity for the restaurant owner and the Vineyard.

Nor is it a fine dining experience. This is good quick food nicely presented and affordable interesting wine that normal people can...

After three times at Wine Not I can finally make up my mind. The atmosphere is nice and relaxed, the place wasn't crowded when I went, felt rather cozy and comfortable.

Mixed feelings about the food. They serve mostly a reasonable selection of 'petiscos' and their pica-pau or garlic prawns are excellent. Not so happy about the cod nuggets with sun dried tomatoes sauce (just mayo with bits of dry tomatoes, unimpressive) or the fried green beans ('peixinhos da horta'), too doughy and lacking salt.

Of course, the stars are the wines, all from Casa Ermelinda Freitas. You can't go wrong with Ermelinda, but I'd recommend the Petit Verdot, strong on tannins, full bodied, balanced acidity, ripe plums and a touch of tobacco and spice (at least to my taste), the 3014 better than the 2015.

Service is nice and friendly, may be a bit slow as food is made to order.

Prices are OK.

All in all, not over the Moon, but I'll go back every...