Wine lovers who haven’t travelled to the Canary Islands may be unaware of the renaissance that has been happening over the past decade or so. Situated off the coast of Morocco, seven of the eight islands in the group produce wine, but it is the new breed of winemakers on Tenerife and Lanzarote that are of most interest. On Lanzarote, the extraordinary volcanic terroir adds to the intrigue.
Wine has been made here since the Spanish conquistadors colonised these Atlantic outposts in the 15th century. Fortified wines made from Malvasia experienced an export boom in the 18th century, but that industry all but disappeared as fortified wines from Portugal and mainland Spain took over.
Lanzarote – Island Paradise?
It’s an unlikely paradise at first glance. The area around the Timanfaya National Park is an astonishing site, strewn with volcanic lava and ash as far as the eye can see. Volcanoes were in continues eruption in the 1730s, with 30% of the island buried under volcanic debris. It is here in the centre of the island that most vineyards and almost all bodegas are located.
This landscape demands new thinking on how to cultivate vines, with the added problem that Lanzarote is a desert with just 150mls of rain per year.
The Hoyos
The answer was to plant each wine in its own little pit, known as a ‘hoyo’. Dug out so the roots could reach through the layer of volcanic ash to the sub soil, low stone walls protect from the fierce trade winds.
Ironically, those winds are also the solution to potential drought. The winds carry moisture, and the planting regime and volcanic picón soil retains enough to sustain the vines without irrigation.
Most vines are not grafted but are planted on their own roots. Phylloxera never reached the islands, and some vineyards are more than one hundred years old. Though few estates are certified organic, in these conditions – isolated, dry, warm with constant breezes – there is little pressure from disease and an estimated 95% of the island’s vineyards are farmed without chemical fungicides.
This is low-density viticulture in the extreme. There can be as few as 300, often ancient plants per hectare. Consider that the standard model in much of Europe is to have vines and rows one metre apart, giving a planting density of 10,000 plants per hectare. That of course effects the yield from these vines, but so too does Lanzarote’s extreme climatic conditions. In 2016, the total harvest produced 700,000 kilograms of fruit, whilst in the record year of 2023 the yield was almost four million kilograms.
Volcanic wines
Volcanic wine has been attracting specific interest for quite some time now. Vineyards from Chile to Etna that are sited on volcanic soils impart a particular mineral signature on the wines made from them. Many Lanzarote wines display that lightly flinty and ozone-like mineral character with firm acidity that is so intriguing.
El Grifo is one of Lanzarote’s big players and a survivor. In continuous production since 1775, on my first visit to Lanzarote in the 1990s it was the only widely available brand that I can recall. The wines were serviceable, but unexciting. Today El Grifo has upped its game, spurred on by the excitement around the influx of new, small wineries making terroir-driven, often ‘natural’ wines. Special El Grifo cuvées come from their oldest and most volcanic plots and are among the island’s most exciting.
If visiting Lanzarote, you will find that bigger names like El Grifo, Bermejo and Vega de Yuco feature in every supermarket and on every restaurant list. Make no mistake, they make very good wines that are well worth exploring, but perhaps the greatest interest for the wine geek lies in the smaller and newer players.
The Artisans of Lanzarote
Titerok-Akaet
The bodega launched in 2017, but with access to much older vines. Farmed organically, Marta Labanda and Juan Daniel Ramirez use minimal SO2 and central to their philosophy is the recovery and preservation of old vines.
Puro Rofe
This project produces some of the most interesting wines in the island. Founder Rayco Fernandez sources grapes from various local organic growers, but with a commitment to terroir-driven, artisan wines from vines farmed sustainably. All ferments are spontaneous with indigenous yeasts, some in amphora, and are unfiltered, unfined and made with minimal sulphur.
Jable de TAO
Another new, terroir-driven producer since 2021, sourcing fruit from old vineyards. They are working steadfastly on researching the island’s soils and micro-climates, the wine tasted here, called Tenesar, is a perfect example. From vineyards of marine sand and volcanic ash just two kilometres from the coast, the saline note is unmissable.
Cohombrillo 4/24
Also established in 2021, this natural wine-focused bodega is another family concern. Producing only around 5,000 bottles annually, farming is organic, and no additives are used in the winery.
Bodega Erupción
And yet another dating from 2021, founded by winemaker Amor Lopez, third generation winegrower who farms 16 plots across the island. Working with ungrafted, 100-year-old vines, ferments are all spontaneous and winemaking is ‘hands-off’.
Bodega David Fernandez
Aged just 29, Lanzarote native David Fernandez leads a brand-new project, the first wines just appearing. He is based in the north of Lanzarote, as are many of his vineyards, which he is rehabilitating after years of neglect. All natural wines, he will release single parcel cuvées, with a focus on individual terroirs.
The Grape Varieties
Lanzarote is proud of its historic varieties and little else makes its way into bottles.
Malvasía Volcánica accounts for around 70% of all wine production. Distinct from other Malvasias, it is a cross between Malvasia (Malmsey) first brought to the island by the Greeks, and the local Marmajuelo.
Listán Negro is widespread. Grown on the Canary Islands since the 1500s and can be considered a native grape. From here, it was exported to the Americas where it is known as País in Chile, Criolla Chica in Argentina and Mission in California.
Listán Blanco is not as widely planted and is a synonym for the Palomino of Jerez.
Diego features as a blending component in a couple of wines tasted here. Also known as Vijariego, it can add a greener apple and herb bite to blends.
UK Availability
Few of these wines are available from UK retailers, but the excellent Wine Shop Lanzarote supplies the UK from its UK warehouse. If you visit the Playa Blanca area, the delicatessen and restaurant of Kamezi Boutique Villas also has a superb selection.
The Wines
Below I taste 20 wines from 15 of the island’s 21 wineries. For me, Lanzarote is all about white wine which is the focus in my tasting. These wines will never be cheap given the island’s challenges, but they are singular, fascinating wines worthy of their price.
(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) The first vintage from a very new bodega, and this one of only 800 bottles produced. Tenesar is an area on the western coast, the 100-year-old vineyard less than 2km from the sea. An early manual harvest results in alcohol of just 11.5%, softly pressed whole bunches then transferred to 500-litre barrels for eight months of aging plus time in concrete eggs. Fabulously pure and mineral, with a little sheen of almond and honey, presumably from the barrel, but the clarity and acid drive, the saline sweep of intensity, is what powers this energising wine.
(2024) Feom Chupadero near the centre of the island, this is 100% Listan Blanco (Palomino), grown in volcanic soils rich in iron and magnesium. Whole bunches are pressed into concrete eggs for natural fermentation and a year of ageing. It's a heavily reductive style, smoky flint on the nose, touching on struck match from the extreme volcanic terroir. It has a feather-light weight too, riven with a zesty lemon on the palate. That combination of intense, smoky flint and citrus, free-flowing towards a saline finish, is distinctive and powerful. Certainly a wine made with intent, that some will like more than others.
(2024) A fascinating wine. Made from Listan Blanco and Diego, with a little of the black Listan Negro, it has a buttercup yellow colour and comes from an area further south than many. Made from old vines grown in the typical little hollows, one vine per hollow, scooped out of the lava and volcanic sand. So heavily reductive that it took me a while to get my head around it, realising that, mixed in to the reductive, gunflint aromas, were the volcanic/mineral aromas, and I wondered if perhaps some flor ageing - but can find no evidence of that from researching the wine. I really enoyed this, and the unsettling impact of the aroma eased on the palate to leave an intriguing and enjoyable wine from this always interesting operation.
(2024) From arguably my favourite producer on the island, this is Malvasía volcánica from organic vineyards, made with natural yeasts, fermented and aged eight months in barrel and unfiltered so it threw a little tartaric sediment at the end of the bottle. It also garnered 94 points from The Wine Advocate apparently. Puro Rofe's wines are always in the reductive spectrum, with a struck-match and cordite whiff, but then gloriously fresh and vital fruit that sings on the palate. Lots of mineral suggestions here, saline, but it is far from lean, the fruit filling the mid-palate too before the acidity propels the finish.
(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) 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) 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.
(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) 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) 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) Malvasía Volcánica from selected growers, inoculated with yeasts selected from their vineyards. Some ageing on lees. This has a brightness and jasmine-like floral intensity that is very attractive. Plenty of peachy, juicy fruit aromas in a wine that is rather more fruit-forward than mineral, and yet on the palate the sweet juiciness is tempered by a lively acidity that gives it real zing.
(2024) From the Don José Núñez plot, a single vineyard of ancient Malvasia Volcanica that is 60 to 80 years old, only 1,632 bottles were produced. The wine is made with skin contact in concrete vessels. Quite a golden colour, there's is obvious richness with just a hint of honey to the flinty and lightly earthy apple and citrus aromas. Plenty of weight and texture on the palate with that edge of phenolic grip and hint of Italian bitters, the wine is a little bit different and expresses it's volcanic terroir so well. Not available in the UK.
(2024) Made from 100%, ungrafted old vine Malvasia Volcanica from the Las Palmeras vineyard, this is aged in French oak for four months resting on the lees. That certainly imparts a richness, a sheen of vanilla and almond, but the clear apricot, yellow apple and lemon fruit soon powers through. Texturally it has a little more weight too, but finally the oak seems to float away in the expected fruit and light saline character of the grape variety. It's interesting to taste barrel-aged Malvasia Volcanica, and though very good indeed, the argument for it doesn't seem compelling.
(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) At first I thought this might have seen a little oak, but on researching discovered that it was extended lees ageing that has added to the lightly creamy, honeyed initial impression. Very vibrant fruit quality here too, a burst of orange as well as juicy peach. Good minerality to the acids, as well as the tang of citrus, and a little texture and weight to the mouthfeel too. Very impressive.
(2024) 'Manto' is a special cuvée from Bodega La Geria, a selection of the best fruit fermented in steel with wild yeasts. This is amongst the most linear expressions of Malvasía Volcánica in my tasting, 12.5% alcohol and despite a couple of grams of residual sugar, an uncompromisingly dry style. It's all about the focused salts and lemon of the fruit and acidity. I enjoyed the bracing style of this, but felt it needed just a touch more fruit to ease the rather steely personality.
(2024) An organic certified wine from volcanic slopes, bottled under DIAM cork and a bit of a discovery for me as I hadn't come across the bodega previously. This 12.5% alcohol wine shows more of the flinty reductive style, a little touch of gunflint, but the fruit comes through very nicely, herbal and citrussy and made in a very refreshing style with crisp acidity.
(2024) 100% Listán Negro, a native variety of the Canary islands, this is picked and pressed in very cool conditions with minimum skin contact to produce a wine that is very pale in colour and only 11.5% alcohol. It is made in stainless steel. Fragrant, herbal, very ozoney and crisp, there's a touch of softening peach down, but this is a breezy and featherweight style. The palate follows a similar template, touching of stone fruits, but the whole picture mineral and light, stony, fresh and bright not just because of its acidity, but seems to be inherent in the wine.
(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.
A version of this article first appeared on Decanter Premium.
