Blandy's Wine Lodge

Two rooms, two different visits. One pours 3- and 5-year Madeira with no schedule. The other opens at set times and pours the old stock: one tasting there ran a 1965 vintage, a forty-year-old wine and a 2011 side by side. Glasses arrive lined up driest to sweetest, with a small plate of sweet pastries and nuts alongside.

The lodge itself is an old wooden building with cobblestones underfoot and barrels in storage. Tours follow the whole chain: how the wine is made, how the barrels are built, how the casks are kept. The 1811 Bistro on site matches courses to particular wines, from dry Sercial to rich Malvasia.

• The cheese board sells out. One visitor who asked at midday was told to come back between 2pm and 3pm for it.
• Two tasting rooms. One pours 3- and 5-year Madeira; the other opens at set times for the older vintages.
• Four price tiers. Flights are grouped by age and vintage. Tell the counter staff what you like and they will steer you.
• A flight can be shared. One visitor split four glasses between two people, tasting driest to sweetest.
• The 1811 Bistro serves courses matched to particular wines, from dry Sercial to sweet Malvasia.

Blandy's Wine Lodge is in central Funchal, and the last stretch is a pavement walk whatever you arrive in. The bus stop Palácio S Lourenço is about 130 m from the door. Drivers use the public car parks nearby and finish on foot. The entrance is at street level, straight off the pavement, with no steps and no path to find. The regional tourism office sits about 20 m away on the same stretch.

Better: the early afternoon. The cheese board sells out, and one visitor asking for it at midday was sent back for the 2pm to 3pm window.

Avoid: turning up set on the old vintages without checking. The room that pours them runs to a schedule, while the 3- and 5-year wines are poured without one.

The whole visit is indoors, which makes it a plan that still works in rain.