Our previous findings showed that chronic ethanol feeding lowers blood pressure in spontaneously hypertensive rats. The present study investigated the role of the adenosine receptor–endothelial nitric oxide (NO) pathway in the hypotensive response to ethanol. Changes in blood pressure were evaluated in radiotelemetered pair-fed rats receiving liquid diet with or without ethanol (2.5% or 5%, w/v) for 12 weeks. The vasorelaxant activity of the adenosine analogue 5′-N-ethylcarboxamidoadenosine (NECA) in isolated aortic rings obtained from ethanol and control rats were evaluated. Ethanol (2.5% and 5%) lowered blood pressure in a dose-dependent manner. The hypotension started at week 1, reached its maximum at week 4 and remained so thereafter. In aortas with intact endothelium, NECA (10⁻¹⁰ to 10⁻⁴ M) produced a concentration-dependent relaxation of the phenylephrine-precontracted aortas. Compared with control rats, ethanol (2.5% and 5%) caused significant and concentration-related increases in NECA responses. This effect of ethanol was attenuated by the adenosine receptor antagonist 8-sulfophenyltheophylline and the nitric oxide synthase inhibitor N^G-monomethyl-l-arginine (l-NMMA). Further, endothelium denudation abolished the ethanol-evoked enhancement of NECA responses. The vasorelaxant responses to acetylcholine or sodium nitroprusside in aortic rings were not influenced by ethanol. In conclusion, the present findings suggest that chronic ethanol enhances the NO-dependent vasorelaxant responses to adenosine receptor activation and this may explain, at least partly, the mechanism of the hypotensive effect of ethanol in spontaneously hypertensive rats.