Vulcanic Wine Azores

Pico Island Geography

Pico is the second largest island in the Azores, with 444.9 km2 in area and elongated shape, thanks to its 46.2 kilometers in length and 15.8 in maximum width, 13 645 inhabitants, which represents less 6% of the population of the Azores. It is located on the 38.40 parallel to 1700 km off the Portuguese coast, a third of the way along the Lisbon – Washington axis. The island is 6 km away from the neighboring island of Faial and together with São Jorge make up what are called the “triangle islands”.

 
Pico Island climate

The climate of the Azores Archipelago is essentially dictated by the geographical location of the islands in the context of the global atmospheric and oceanic circulation and by the influence of the water mass from which they emerge.

In a very general way, its climate can be characterized by its thermal amenity, by high levels of air humidity, by low insolation rates, by regular and abundant rains and by a regime of vigorous winds that surround the archipelago, accompanying the evolution of atmospheric circulation patterns at the scale of the North Atlantic basin.

The climate can be classified as moist mesothermal with oceanic characteristics.
     
However, Pico Mountain will significantly and particularly impact the island's climate, as its 2351 meters of altitude, hold the rains around the mountain allowing to reduce rainfall at lower altitudes, which is known as the Fohen effect. , in which the humid winds of the Atlantic Ocean, when they collide with the mountain and are forced to ascend, find lower temperatures until they reach their dew point and clouds form.

Forming the characteristic ring or hat around the cone of Pico mountain, thus raining more than 5,000 mm per year on the top of the mountain, but less than 1000 mm right by the sea. That's why the ancients say that the best vineyards are where the “crab singing” took place, this is right by the sea, the farthest away from the influence of the mountain. And what makes Pico's terroir unique.

The combination of a cool climate, due to the latitude and Atlantic influence, with the effect of the mountain forced Picaroto to place its vineyards right by the sea “where the crab was singing” to ensure a greater number of hours of sunshine and a maturation.

Next to the sea there were slabs and biscuits, both resulting from lava flows and pure mother rock.

It was therefore necessary to tidy up the stone and use it to protect from the sea and the wind and to make the best use of the weather and geological conditions of the stony terrain and slab areas, the Picaroto Man organized the land into an impressive mosaic of black stone : the “corrals”.

This lattice of squares delimited by basalt walls where the vines are planted extends to the horizon. Crianca Velha and Santa Luzia are major examples of this art of parceling out the land, to which hundreds of kilometers of arduously erected stone walls correspond. These lands, a mixture of lava nature and ancestral cultural practices, encompass the Landscape of the Pico Island Vineyard Culture, a UNESCO World Heritage Site since 2004.

While on the floor of black lava the “rilheiras” stand out, furrows left by the wheels of the ox carts that transported grapes and barrels, in the ports and small harbors along the seashore there are the “kite turtles”, slopes carved to facilitate the glide from kites to boats, which still personify this activity today.