Graciosa wine and queijadas: what to buy on the island and where to find it

Graciosa sends two things home in visitors' luggage: a bottle of white wine from the island cooperative and a box of queijadas, the star-shaped tarts baked in Praia. Each comes from a single producer with its own shop, and both shops sell more than the thing they are known for.

Graciosa is the driest island in the Azores, and its soils are poor and volcanic. The growers planted them inside small square enclosures of loose basalt, the currais, whose walls break the wind and give back the day's warmth at night. Thousands of them still cover the slopes of Bom Jesus and Achada above Santa Cruz and the ground around the airport runway.

The island is one of three designated wine areas in the Azores, next to Pico and Biscoitos on Terceira. The main grapes are Verdelho, Arinto, Boal, Terrantez and Fernão Pires, and what the island sells today is white wine, fresh and a little salty, the kind you drink with fish.

The island's wine cooperative, the Adega e Cooperativa Agrícola da Ilha Graciosa, has been making wine since 1962. It is at Charco da Cruz 12 in Santa Cruz da Graciosa, and its label is Pedras Brancas, "white stones". Graciosa's own nickname is the Ilha Branca, the White Island.

What to look for:

• Pedras Brancas Reserva 2020, the flagship white: 60% Verdelho, 39% Arinto and 1% Boal, 12% alcohol. Half of it is fermented in steel and half in 500-litre French oak barrels. It is fresh and saline, with tropical fruit and spice. The cooperative's online shop listed it at 22.80 euros in September 2026.
• Graciosa garlic. It has been grown here since the first settlers arrived in the 15th century, São Mateus calls itself the Terra do Alho, and the garlic got a protected geographical indication in 2021.
• Meloa da Graciosa, which the cooperative calls the sweetest and juiciest melon in the Azores.
• Grape jam and melon jam, which travel better than the melon.

Stock runs out. When we checked in September 2026, several of the non-wine products were marked sold out online. On the island, ask at the cooperative what is available that week.

The cooperative runs guided visits through the vineyard that end with a tasting. We could not confirm days and times, so phone before you drive over: +351 295 712 169.

A queijada is usually a small cheese tart. The Graciosa version is different: no cheese, a filling of eggs, milk and sugar with a trace of cinnamon, baked in a thin crisp shell shaped like a star. On the island it used to be called covilhete de leite, and families made it at home for feast days.

The boxed ones you see all over the Azores come from Queijadas da Graciosa, a family bakery in Praia (São Mateus) on the east coast. Maria de Jesus Félix started making them to sell some thirty years ago, the name was registered as a trademark in 2003, and her children run the business now. In 2015 it was the first product in the Azores to carry the regional "Açores, certificado pela natureza" mark. In summer the kitchen turns out around 2,000 to 2,500 a day (2019 figure), and they are shipped to the other islands, mainland Portugal and the United States.

The shop is at Rua Infante Dom Henrique 34/36, two streets back from the beach and close to the windmills. The maker lists it as open Monday to Saturday, 08:00 to 18:00 (checked September 2026). Phone +351 295 712 911.

What to buy:

• Queijadas by the box. Ask in the shop how long they keep, and buy close to your departure.
• Pastéis de arroz, rice tarts, from the same kitchen.
• Dry biscuits.

You will also find the boxes in supermarkets and regional-produce shops on the other islands and on the mainland, so a missed visit is not a lost cause.

You can walk through the vineyards as well as drink from them. Two marked trails help:

• PR04GRA starts at the old Bom Jesus schoolhouse above Santa Cruz and crosses the corrals of Bom Jesus and Achada down to the sea at Barro Vermelho, passing the Ponta da Barca lighthouse. Medium, 6.6 km, about two and a half hours.
• PR03GRA is the short one: from the chapel in Luz, down through vineyards to the little harbour of Portinho da Folga. Easy, 2.1 km, about an hour.

The Museu da Graciosa in Santa Cruz keeps an old wine cellar with its press rooms, which explains what you see in the fields. Entry was about 1 euro at the last published price (2024).

Start in Santa Cruz with the museum and a call to the cooperative. Drive out to Charco da Cruz for bottles, then walk PR04GRA if the weather holds. After lunch, drive south-east to Praia, buy queijadas at the shop behind the beach and eat the first one by the windmills.

If you fly out early, shop the day before. The queijadas shop opens at 08:00 and the cooperative publishes no hours, so neither helps with a dawn flight.

Where can I buy Graciosa wine? At the Adega e Cooperativa Agrícola da Ilha Graciosa, Charco da Cruz 12, Santa Cruz da Graciosa, phone +351 295 712 169. Its wines are sold under the Pedras Brancas label.

Are queijadas da Graciosa made with cheese? No. The filling is eggs, milk and sugar with a little cinnamon, in a star-shaped pastry case.

Where is the queijadas shop? In Praia (São Mateus), Rua Infante Dom Henrique 34/36, near the beach and the windmills. Listed hours in 2026: Monday to Saturday, 08:00 to 18:00.

Can I take them home on the plane? Yes. The queijadas travel in their own box, and they are sold on the other islands too. Put wine in checked luggage; liquids over 100 ml are not allowed in hand luggage through security.