blandy's wine lodge

Good length tour with just the right amount of information. The building is great with lots of history. The wine tasting was also good.

The tour of the Lodge is an interesting 45 minutes, even though they no longer make the wine there (though they do store it and mature it there). The tasting is good and they offer useful discounts on purchases, plus the option of collection at the airport.

Sadly this has changed so much from when we first visited (it is now a commercial enterprise) --- you now pay for a sample drink and find it is often packed out with people off cruise liners. The museum although not very big is worth a tour around

Arrived for the last tour on a Saturday so only had the option of the Lodge Tour which lasted about 30 minutes and was excellent VFM for €3,30 (it included a free sample at the end). The friendly guide provided an informative tour which covered the production process and how the wine was stored.

We did the Premium Tour at €5.50pp which takes 45 mins.Had a good guide who knew all about the history and making of the wine, answered a lot of questikns with ease.The tour takes you through the history and process of making wine including the warehouse which stores many barrels of ageing wine.The tasting at the end is good and as others say you get 10% discount if you buy anything, however you are not pressurised at all which is pleasing.A must do and interesting.

step back in time and visit one of the oldest streets in Funchal and have a taste of Madeira wine at its finest, lots to see worth taking the tour as it is an insight into the company and history. good wine tasting area in a relaxed environment.

Located in the centre of Funchal the shop and cellar opened at 10 with the first tour at 11 so we booked our place then took a walk around the centre of town and through the market first. The tour lasted just under an hour followed by a tasting of two Madeiras. There was no pressure to purchase anything and in a way we would of liked to hear more about the wines we were tasting but the guide had to rush off for another tour. We moved on to the tasting room and paid an extra 35€ for a further tasting of 3 more madeiras but this time from the 1960's we didn't buy any as the one we liked best was 450€ for the bottle so we gave it a miss, but it was lovely to taste. The tour takes you through the museum and the cellar where the Madeiras are aged and a history of the company and the drink itself are explained. Definitely worth the few euros it cost and in a very convenient location so if you don't have much time in Funchal or Madeira like ourselves this is a good one to choose.

I agree with other reviews that the visit is rushed and it would be better to be able to go round at own pace and read the posters. However, the tour guide does add value with her anecdotes and it is great to see the actual production and storage facilities. The tasting was good too. We ended up not particularly liking the taste of the wine, but that is not the point and does not make the tour less worthwhile.When you have finished the tour, go up into the shopping arcade behind it (inland) and there is a rather good coffee/cake shop on the right!

We went on the Premium Tour - 5.50 euros and takes about 45 mins. The group was split into two, a German speaking Tour and an English speaking Tour, we didn't meet the others until the end in the tasting room. The tour was well conducted by an informative guide (Karina?) who gave interesting snippets of information. The various rooms we visited were a little on the dark side so it was actually quite hard to read the information boards. There was not much time given to view the Museum and perhaps more time should be allowed here. The tasting at the end was good and there is 10% off for those who wanted to purchase items and you can also use the option to collect purchased items at the airport (after security) to use in your hand luggage which could be useful.Overall I found it a fascinating look at the history of this wine and gained knowledge I didn't know before.

Would have preferred to walk around on my own and read all the information boards on the walls. I felt you were herded through very quickly and there were to many weak jokes referring to "angels" drinking the wine instead of just saying the wine evaporated! Went on the premium tour but should have just had the shorter one as we didn't spend much time in the museum!The best idea was the 10% discount given and the opportunity to sample the wines and have the money taken off the cost of a bottle. Good idea for those like us with only hand luggage to be able to collect your bottle of wine after customs.

We enjoyed our tour because our guide was a young woman with a good sense of humour and lots of interesting facts about Madeira wine and Blandy's. The wine tasting was good too!

Excellent guide who showed us where the barres of Maderia were stores and explained the processus of production, a visit of the muséum and a tasting at the end to try 2 sorts of madeira.

Insightful and valuable. Chance to sample two delickus Maferian drinks one a digestiff the other an aprrateraiff bought some as far superior to the supermakery version

Extremely informative and most interesting.Our tour guide was very good and answered all questions very well.The wine tasting went down very well I would recommend this tour as a must do.

I wonder where the British connection with wine making came from all those years ago? Christopher Blandy actually came into the shop while we were mooching about, but he din't offer us a free bottle