In Colares, the vines grow in sand. The vineyards, on the dunes near the Atlantic, are dug deep into the sand to reach the clay beneath, and the vines, low and sprawling, are protected from the wind by fences of cane. Because phylloxera, the insect that destroyed Europe's vineyards in the nineteenth century, cannot survive in sand, the Ramisco vines of Colares were never grafted, and some are very old. The wine is rare, tannic and long-lived, a curiosity of Portuguese wine.
Colares is a village at the foot of the Sintra hills, between the mountains and the sea. Sintra, a few kilometres east, is famous for its palaces, the colourful Pena Palace on the summit, the Moorish Castle on the ridge and the mysterious Quinta da Regaleira, with its initiation well. The hills are often wrapped in mist, even in summer, giving them a romantic, otherworldly feel.
West of Colares, the village of Azenhas do Mar clings to a cliff above the sea, its white houses stacked above an ocean pool. Cabo da Roca, a little south, is the westernmost point of continental Europe, a windswept headland with a lighthouse and a monument.
The riding is superb but demanding. The roads through the Sintra hills are narrow, steep and winding, often cobbled and damp, with tourist traffic and buses. The coast road is more open, with views over the sea. Watch for fog, wet cobbles and wind.
Fill up in Sintra or on the main roads before diving into the hills. Then take lunch near the sea, at Azenhas do Mar or Praia das Maçãs, where an old tram still clatters down from Sintra in summer; grilled fish and a glass of sandy-soil Colares red make a lunch you will remember long after the cobbles have stopped rattling in your wrists.