Buying Cigars in Rio; Also where to buy Wine and Liquer

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Cigars in Rio; Also where to best buy Wine and Liquer

Quite often I have had people asking me where you can buy cigars in Rio. Or where you best can buy your wine or whisky. This is my attempt to explain a little about prices, selection and stores.

Cigars in Rio
Cigars (charutos in Portuguese) are produzed in Brazil, the best brands are from Bahia in the Northeast. You can get a quality cigar for 15-20 R$, I personally recommend Dona Flor or Le Cigar. There are a lot of options of lesser quality and price. Imported goods like cigars are heavily taxed so Cuban and Dominican cigars are really pricey. Below is a list of cigar shops that sell the better quality cigars in Rio:

Where to Buy Cigars in Rio?

Trinidad Tabacaria, Shopping Rio Sul, R. Lauro Muller 116, Botafogo map, tel 2541-8189. Located on the 4th floor.
Café e Charutaria Lollo Ltda., Av. N. Sra. De Copacabana 683, Copacabana map, tel 2235-0625. Also has a large selection of smoking acessories like papers and pipes. Doesn´t have a humidor but many brands and sizes. This is probably how you got your cigars in Rio a 100 years ago.
Planeta Sonho, Av. N. Sra. De Copacabana 960, Copacabana map, tel 3208-3806/3208-3807. A kind of a delicatessen store, with liquer, wine and cigars.
Planeta Sonho, Av. N. Sra. De Copacabana 455, Copacabana map, tel 2549-5019/2255-5031.

Wine in Rio
Imported wine, with exception for Chilean and Argentinan (due to trade agreements), is expensive. When it comes to wine Brazil actually produces quite good red (look for wines from Rio Grande de Sul). Since both Chile and Argentina are established wine producers this all together makes the price and selection allright. A warning must be issued for the cheap sweet and dry red wines from Brazil; it´s some kind of industrial product that bears no resemblence to real wine.

Where To Buy Wine in Rio?
Some supermarkets offer a decent selection of wine, in particular the Zona Sul stores. But you also have some specialized stores where you can buy the same wine at similar or many times lower prices. My warning here is that you have to see how the wine is stored; If the wine you are looking to buy is in a roasting ambience under bright lights and the bottle is dusty chances are the wine is destroyed. I have personally bought quite a few "bad bottles" so now I am more observant. Below I have listed some of the specialized wine stores I can recommend:

Planeta Sonho, Av. N. Sra. De Copacabana 960, Copacabana map, tel 3208-3806/3208-3807.
Planeta Sonho, Av. N. Sra. De Copacabana 455, Copacabana map, tel 2549-5019/2255-5031.
Lidador, R. Vinicius de Moraes 120, Ipanema map, tel 2227-0593.
Lidador, R. Barato Ribeiro 505, Copacabana map, tel 2549-0091.
Expand Wine Store Ipanema, R. Barão da Torre 358, Ipanema map, tel 2523-2747. Upscale where you also can eat and enjoy the high quality wines.
Expand Wine Store Leblon, Av. Afrânio de Melo Franco 290 shop 403, Leblon map, (in Shopping Leblon), tel 3138-8380.
L´Orangerie R. General Glicério 364, Laranjeiras map, tel 2205-5000. Snobby but good, also have courses in wine, tastings and other wine related events.

Liquer in Rio
This is an easier subject. You can easily find cheap nationally produced brandies, vodkas or whiskies but they are all of inferior quality compared to what´s imported. But the imported liquer is taxed so hard it´s really expensive to buy. The one exception is cachaça that goes from inferior gasoline like products to refined vintage that cost a small fortune. You can find a pretty decent selection of liquer in any larger supermarket, but you´ll probably have to go to the specialist stores to get real Cuban rum. Here are a few of those (yes it´s some of the same as for wine above):

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