Is Moroccan wine any good, and where can I try it?

People are always surprised when I tell them Morocco makes wine, but it does, and some of it is good. The heart of the industry sits around Meknès and the Zerhoun hills near Volubilis, where the altitude and cool nights actually suit the vines. The names I steer clients toward are Volubilia (the rosé especially), Médaillon, and anything carrying the Beni M’Tir or Guerrouane appellation. The famous Gris de Boulaouane — a pale, easy rosé — is the one you’ll see on every wine list, and on a warm afternoon it does the job perfectly.

You won’t find wine in a corner shop the way you would in Europe. It lives in licensed restaurants, hotel and riad bars, and the alcohol sections of the big supermarkets — Carrefour and Marjane both keep a decent range, usually walled off in a back corner. I’ve had clients walk past it three times because it’s deliberately tucked away. A bottle of local red runs roughly 80–150 dirhams in a shop, double or triple that in a restaurant, which still makes it cheaper than importing your habits.

My honest take after years of pouring it for guests: drink Moroccan reds young and a little cool, don’t expect a Bordeaux, and you’ll be charmed. The CB Initiales and the Château Roslane (the country’s only AOG-classified estate) are the ones I bring out when someone is sceptical — they reliably turn doubters around. The whites are the weakest link; I’d stick to red and rosé.

If you want the full experience, I can arrange a tasting at the Château Roslane estate near Meknès, which is a beautiful detour on the way between Fes and the imperial cities. It pairs naturally with a Volubilis archaeological visit, so you get Roman ruins in the morning and a vineyard lunch in the afternoon. Just remember Morocco is a Muslim country — drink discreetly, never in the street, and you’ll have no trouble at all.