When exactly the first vines were planted here is unknown. But the growth in wine-making on the peninsula dates back to antiquity. A century before Christ, Polybius spoke of the wines from Lusitania as being the best in Europe.

King Afonso III’s charter to Sintra (1154) reveals that wine was being produced in the region even back then. King Afonso III intended to revive winemaking, so in 1255 he donated the royal land of Colares to Pedro Miguel and his wife, Maria Estevão, on the condition that vines were planted. Because this wine is so similar to some French wines, in "Cintra Pituresca" ("Picturesque Sintra",) the Viscount of Juromenha raises the possibility that the King introduced French vines into Portugal. In 1301, King Dinis, who gave agriculture such a huge boost, donated to his son, Prince Pedro Afonso, a wine cellar, various vineyards and other territories in and around Sintra. King Afonso IV’s harvest records reveal details of how much was harvested in the town and its outskirts and they show that wine production amounted to three barrels in Sintra and three barrels in the outskirts.