(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) 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) 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) 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) 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) 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) 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) 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) 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) 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.