# What grapes are used in Pico wine?
Question: What grapes are used in Pico wine?

URL: https://picoisland.pt/questions/what-grapes-are-used-in-pico-wine
Status: verified
Last verified: 2026-10-03

Wine sold under the Pico designation is made mainly from three white grapes: Arinto dos Açores, Verdelho and Terrantez do Pico. Under the current DO Pico specification these main grapes must make up at least 85% of the blend, with a short list of secondary grapes allowed for the rest.

## Three grapes, one rule

The answer depends on what the bottle says. Wine labelled with the Pico designation follows a
specification published by Portugal's wine institute, and that document names three main grapes:
Arinto dos Açores, Verdelho and Terrantez do Pico. Together they must make up most of what goes
into the wine. The rest can come only from a short list of secondary grapes, Galego Dourado and
Malvasia Fina, which the specification also calls Boal.

All of them are white grapes, which is why the island's reputation rests on white and fortified
wine rather than red.

## Why Verdelho gets the attention

Of the three, Verdelho carries the history. It is the grape most tied to the island's old export
trade and to the walled vineyards that are now on the World Heritage list, and it is the one most
visitors have heard of. The [Verdelho page](/wine/verdelho) covers where it comes from and how the
designation around it was built.

## What this page does not tell you

How much of each grape is planted, and what any one producer puts in its own bottles, are not
covered here, because neither figure has been checked against a source. To taste the wines, see
the adegas listed under [wine country](/wine), and for the landscape they grow in, the
[UNESCO vineyard page](/wine/unesco-vineyard-landscape).

## Sources

- Main grapes: Arinto dos Açores, Verdelho, Terrantez do Pico (source: https://www.ivv.gov.pt/wp-content/uploads/2026/02/DO_Pico.pdf)
- Main grapes, minimum share of the blend: at least 85% (source: https://www.ivv.gov.pt/wp-content/uploads/2026/02/DO_Pico.pdf)
- Secondary grapes: Galego Dourado, Malvasia Fina (Boal) (source: https://www.ivv.gov.pt/wp-content/uploads/2026/02/DO_Pico.pdf)
- Current specification: DO Pico (PDO-PT-A1445), January 2024 (source: https://www.ivv.gov.pt/wp-content/uploads/2026/02/DO_Pico.pdf)