(2024) A wine that seems widely distributed in the island's restaurants, and one of very good quality. It is made from the Malvasia Volcanica variety, a crossing of Marmajuelo (an indigenous white grape) and Malvasía Aromatica. Fresh and peachy on the nose, there's plenty citrus and a whiff of ozone. Mostly driven by fruit, there is a little hint of the delicate flint and smoke of its volcanic origins, in a stylish and always enjoyable wine. The stockist listed will ship to the UK.
(2024) A delightful Malvasía Volcánica from Bodegas Vulcano's volcanic soils, this showed glimpses of those flinty nuances, but was mostly about dazzling fresh and mouth-watering fruit, somewhere between orange and lemon, with real juiciness. There are also floral notes and fresh, grassy herbs on the palate, adding to the sense of sheerness and energy here.
(2024) Made from Listán Negro, this organic pink didn't completely grab me in the same way as the island's white wines. Don't get me wrong, it was good, combining attractive, small redcurrant dry fruitiness and some of the volcanic minerality one would hope for, but with only 1.5g/l of residual sugar and presumably picked early and with minimum skin contact, for me it felt just a little under-flavoured and possibly just a little bit lean.
(2024) From the first Malvasía Volcánica grapes planted specifically for the production of sparkling wines on the island, this is made using the traditional method spent 20 months on the lees in bottle. It has less than 1g/l of residual sugar. Fabulous waxy yellow apples on the nose, briny ozone and biscuity richness. The palate does not miss the sugar one little bit, having a fruit concentration and the driving force of the mineral acidity and a herbal streak. I thought this was different and delicious.
(2024) The island's most distinctively packaged wine in its tall, conical blue glass bottle is 100% Malvasía Volcánica, from selected farms on the island. A little like the El Grifo I guess, it's a very good and well-made wine, with yellow apple fruit touching on something more tropical, and just hinting rather than fully expressing its volcanic island credentials. It slips down easily without the distinction of some.
(2024) Where Lanzarote goes full hipster, we're firmly in natural wine territory here, a blend of Malvasia Volcánica, Listan Blanco, Diego and Listan Negro, fermented with natural yeasts and spending 11 months in concrete, oak, and chestnut barrels. Vines are between 25 and 120 years old, grown at altitude up to 415 metres. Copper-gold in colour, aromas are of wheat beer, parcel string and lemon, some bitter orange oil notes too. In the mouth fabulous salinity and tons of citrus: orange again and lemon zest. There's plenty of leesy texture here, that wheat and hay-luke impression continuing, in a long and delicious wine in the 'natural' idiom.
(2024) This is 100% Malvasia Volcanica from ungrafted centennial vines planted 300 metres above sea level, the wine fermented with indigenous yeasts. It sees no oak, but spends 18 months on the lees. A deep, yellow to gold colour, aromas are creamy, with yellow apple and straw, a hint of buttered toast but there's a wheat beer nuance here too. In the mouth it is really very vivacious: a bursting, nectarine ripeness and generous lime acidity drive the wine, tangy with flinty overtones emerging. Note there was some yeast sediment in my bottle, a by-product of the unflitered, unfined and natural. If you see this, the idea might be to shake the bottle to distribute it. Only 1,200 bottles produced.
(2024) Hand-harvested, organic Malvasia Volcanica from a single vineyard parcel. Spontaneous fermentation followed by 12 months on the lees and "very ittle added sulphur." The hand written front and rear labels declare that my bottle was number 950 of 1092. Young Tenerife winemaker Pablo Matallana has produced a natural wine, hazy and buttercup yellow, it has yeast, floral and soft, leafy herb aromas with golden yellow apple. A touch of kaolin clay. The palate has texture and lots of salty, mineral intensity. The fat, limey fruit almost touches on peach, but then the saline core pushes through to a long, mineral finish.
(2024) The "Miracle of Magma and Malvasia", this comes from young woman winemaker, Amor Lopez. Amor is a third generation of winegrowers, but her label is new, launched in 2021. From pre-phylloxera vines, spontaneous fermentation is followed by 11 months on the lees, with a semi-oxidative winemaking approach. The colour is straw to pale yellow, the nose giving a little hint of crushed oatmeal, Cox's pippin apples and fine herbs. There's a sense of stony salinity, which carries through to the palate. Lemon drives this, but the salty, ozone breeze character is unmissable. Delicately flinty, it finishes with bracing acidity but no lack of mid-palate fruit.
