WhereToEatNow Review
Look up. That's the first thing everyone does at By the Wine, and it's the right instinct — the ceiling is a rolling green wave of roughly 3,000 empty José Maria da Fonseca bottles, backlit and honestly mesmerising. This is the JMF estate's own wine bar on Rua das Flores, a five-minute stroll down from the Carmo through the heart of Chiado, and it's the easiest possible introduction to one of Portugal's great wine houses.
The move here is wine by the glass, and the list runs deep through the JMF portfolio — from the crowd-pleasing Periquita reds to the honeyed Moscatel de Setúbal that you should absolutely finish on. Staff know their stuff and will happily pour you a flight if you tell them what you like. To eat, it's petiscos built for sharing: excellent cured presunto, a well-chosen cheese board, plump oysters, and small plates that exist to make the wine taste better. Two glasses and a couple of plates lands around €25–35 a head, more if you chase the oysters and older reds.
Why come here from Carmo? Because it's close, atmospheric, and lets you drink seriously good Portuguese wine without committing to a full sit-down dinner. It's ideal as a pre-dinner stop or a lingering afternoon out of the sun. That ceiling also makes it one of the most photographed rooms in Lisbon — arrive early if you want it calm.
Honest notes: it's firmly on the tourist trail, it fills up and gets loud, and the food is good rather than transcendent — you're here for the wine and the setting, not a gastronomic revelation. Take it for what it is and it's a genuine pleasure.