Are there wine tasting and vineyards in Morocco?

This is one of my favourite secrets to share, because almost nobody arrives expecting it: Morocco makes genuinely good wine, and it has done for over a century. The heartland is around Meknes and the rolling hills toward Fes and Volubilis, where the altitude, cooling night air off the Atlas and warm days create surprisingly fine conditions for vines — French settlers spotted this long ago, and the tradition survived. Today a handful of serious estates produce reds, rosés, whites and the famous "vin gris" (a pale, dry rosé that is the perfect lunch wine in the heat).

For visitors, a few estates have opened their doors beautifully. Domaine de la Zouina (which makes the elegant Volubilia wines) and the Château Roslane estate of Les Celliers de Meknes are the names I most often arrange — you tour the vineyards and cellars, learn how they work the land, and sit down to a proper guided tasting, often paired with a long, lazy Moroccan-French lunch on a terrace overlooking the vines with the Atlas in the distance. Combined with a morning at the Roman ruins of Volubilis just up the road, it makes one of the most civilised, unexpected days in the whole country.

I should be honest and culturally careful here, because guests often ask: yes, this is a Muslim-majority country, and alcohol is treated discreetly — you will not see wine flaunted, and many locals do not drink. But it is entirely legal, openly produced, sold in supermarkets and licensed restaurants, and served in hotels and riads catering to travellers. Visiting a winery is respectful and normal; you are simply enjoying an agricultural and culinary tradition that has deep roots here. Just be mindful not to drink in the street or in obviously conservative public settings.

A few practical notes. The estates are working farms and prefer advance arrangement rather than walk-ins, so a tasting visit and lunch needs booking — which I handle, including transport from Fes or Meknes. Harvest (late summer into early autumn) is an atmospheric time to visit. And the wines genuinely punch above their reputation: the vin gris and the better Atlas-grown reds (Syrah, Cabernet, Grenache blends) are lovely, and bottles make a wonderful, slightly surprising souvenir.

If you love wine, I will build a Meknes–Volubilis day around an estate visit, and even pair particular Moroccan wines with the dishes you will eat on your trip. It is the kind of experience that completely upends people's assumptions about Morocco — and that, for me, is always the best kind of day.