Canary Islands

Lanzarote: vines in lava pits - dry Malvasía Volcánica, mineral and orange-blossom scented.

The most photographed vineyards in Spain. Malvasía Volcánica is the signature white, mostly dry, with fruit like peach and tropical fruit, citrus and a salty volcanic finish. Sweet and sparkling versions exist too.

The most photographed vineyards in Spain. Malvasía Volcánica is the signature white, mostly dry, with fruit like peach and tropical fruit, citrus and a salty volcanic finish. Sweet and sparkling versions exist too.

Listán Negro: the main red - red cherry, pepper and smoke, light and fresh.

The most planted red on the islands. Light to medium body, soft tannin, lively acidity and a smoky, mineral finish. Often made with carbonic maceration for juicy fruit.

The most planted red on the islands. Light to medium body, soft tannin, lively acidity and a smoky, mineral finish. Often made with carbonic maceration for juicy fruit.

Grilled or fried fish with mojo verde: dry Listán Blanco or Lanzarote Seco.

A classic island plate is fried fish with a green mojo of garlic, coriander and vinegar. A crisp, mineral white cuts the oil and matches the sauce.

A classic island plate is fried fish with a green mojo of garlic, coriander and vinegar. A crisp, mineral white cuts the oil and matches the sauce.

Valle de la Orotava: Tenerife's north-coast wines - delicate, chalky, from braided vines.

Listán Blanco and Listán Negro on Mount Teide's northern foothills, trained in the traditional braided cordón. Whites are crisp and stony; reds are light, peppery and smoky. Home to the island's most admired estate.

Listán Blanco and Listán Negro on Mount Teide's northern foothills, trained in the traditional braided cordón. Whites are crisp and stony; reds are light, peppery and smoky. Home to the island's most admired estate.

Sweet Malvasía with almond desserts or strong cheese.

Sweet Canary Malvasía is at least as sweet as a dessert, so it suits nutty pastries, or sits against salty blue or aged cheese as a dessert in itself.

Sweet Canary Malvasía is at least as sweet as a dessert, so it suits nutty pastries, or sits against salty blue or aged cheese as a dessert in itself.

Baboso Negro: powerful, smoky, sometimes leathery - the rediscovered dark red.

A deep, tannic red with real grip, found on Tenerife and El Hierro. Very different from the light Listán Negro and a favourite of the new-wave growers.

A deep, tannic red with real grip, found on Tenerife and El Hierro. Very different from the light Listán Negro and a favourite of the new-wave growers.

Altitude and Mount Teide split Tenerife: a humid north, a dry south.

Tenerife's north catches Atlantic cloud and makes more aromatic whites and lighter reds. The south is drier, and its whites can taste almost salty. Vineyards run from near sea level up to some of Spain's highest, around 1,600 metres on the slopes of Teide.

Tenerife's north catches Atlantic cloud and makes more aromatic whites and lighter reds. The south is drier, and its whites can taste almost salty. Vineyards run from near sea level up to some of Spain's highest, around 1,600 metres on the slopes of Teide.

Tacoronte-Acentejo: Tenerife's first DO - easy, youthful Listán Negro reds.

North-east Tenerife on terraced slopes, mostly light, low-alcohol, quick-drinking reds from Listán Negro and Negramoll, with a few striking whites and sweet wines.

North-east Tenerife on terraced slopes, mostly light, low-alcohol, quick-drinking reds from Listán Negro and Negramoll, with a few striking whites and sweet wines.

Bodegas Rubicón: Malvasía Volcánica Seco from a 17th-century La Geria cortijo.

A heritage estate in the middle of La Geria, making a clean, dry, fruity Malvasía at a fair price.

A heritage estate in the middle of La Geria, making a clean, dry, fruity Malvasía at a fair price.

Wind-proof farming: Lanzarote's pits and walls, Tenerife's braided vines.

Lanzarote vines sit in hand-dug pits behind low lava-stone walls that shield them from the trade winds and catch dew. In Tenerife's Orotava valley, vines are trained low and long in a braided cordón. Both keep grapes healthy in a windy, dry place.

Lanzarote vines sit in hand-dug pits behind low lava-stone walls that shield them from the trade winds and catch dew. In Tenerife's Orotava valley, vines are trained low and long in a braided cordón. Both keep grapes healthy in a windy, dry place.

Lees ageing adds depth to Malvasía Volcánica.

Some top Lanzarote whites rest on their yeast lees in tank to gain a richer, creamier texture and more length, while keeping the mineral edge.

Some top Lanzarote whites rest on their yeast lees in tank to gain a richer, creamier texture and more length, while keeping the mineral edge.

Local fizz: Los Bermejos sparkling Malvasía for a toast.

Lanzarote's traditional-method sparkling is the island way to celebrate, in place of imported Champagne.

Lanzarote's traditional-method sparkling is the island way to celebrate, in place of imported Champagne.

Ycoden-Daute-Isora: Tenerife's cool north-west - the new-wave and old-vine hotspot.

A humid stretch of coast and high slopes where many of the oldest, ungrafted plots survive. It is the stronghold of the island's low-intervention growers, with bright, salty whites and mineral reds.

A humid stretch of coast and high slopes where many of the oldest, ungrafted plots survive. It is the stronghold of the island's low-intervention growers, with bright, salty whites and mineral reds.

Abona: the dry, sunny south - high-altitude, almost salty whites.

Tenerife's largest area, running from the coast up to Vilaflor, among the highest vineyards in Spain. Poor volcanic soil and dry air give lean, saline white wines, plus some reds and rosés.

Tenerife's largest area, running from the coast up to Vilaflor, among the highest vineyards in Spain. Poor volcanic soil and dry air give lean, saline white wines, plus some reds and rosés.

Low-intervention wines from old parcels, with almost no sulphur.

Envínate and other small growers work gently and use very little sulphur. Wines are fresh, saline and charming young, with a slightly wild edge.

Envínate and other small growers work gently and use very little sulphur. Wines are fresh, saline and charming young, with a slightly wild edge.

El Grifo: Lanzarote's old house - Malvasía Volcánica Seco, Lías, Moscatel.

An old Lanzarote house with a large holding in La Geria's protected landscape. The Colección Seco is the benchmark everyday white; the Lías, aged on its lees, is the grand one.

Bodegas El Grifo calls itself one of the most emblematic wineries in the Canaries and traces its roots to 1775. It farms a large holding inside La Geria's protected landscape, about half of it certified organic, at 250 to 460 metres, with vines planted by hand in pits dug into the picón (volcanic ash), each protected by a semicircular wall facing the trade wind. Malvasía Volcánica is the heart of the range: the Seco is the reliable, fruity and mineral dry white at an everyday price, and the Lías is the same grape aged on its lees for extra richness and length, a bottle that shows how serious Lanzarote can be. A Moscatel and a Listán Negro round out the range, and the winery runs a wine museum and tours. This is the safest first bottle of Lanzarote wine you can buy.

Phylloxera never arrived: old ungrafted vines, now facing a first scare.

The islands escaped phylloxera, so most vineyards are on their own roots and some vines are very old. A first small outbreak was reported on Tenerife in 2025.

Phylloxera, the root louse that devastated much of Europe's vineyards in the 19th century, never reached the Canaries, and that is the single biggest reason the islands are special. Vines grow on their own roots, some reportedly 100 to 200 years old, and growers on Lanzarote and Tenerife keep pre-phylloxera plots. Some of the oldest Ycoden vineyards were even propagated by layering, an old technique abandoned elsewhere after the louse arrived. Own-rooted old vines give small crops, deep concentration and the salty, chalky length that collectors look for. The picture is now changing: a first phylloxera focus was reported at Valle de Guerra, near La Laguna on Tenerife, in July 2025, in a garden arbour and neighbouring abandoned land rather than a wine district. Treat the situation as a live story and check the latest news before relying on the 'untouched vines' line.

Suertes del Marqués: the reference estate - Vidonia, Trenzado, 7 Fuentes, La Solana.

A family estate on the north side of Tenerife that turned decades of grape-selling into one of the island's most respected wine brands. Trenzado is the village wine; La Solana and Vidonia are the top bottles.

Suertes del Marqués began as a family vineyard whose grapes were sold to other wineries for about twenty years, then became its own winery in 2006. The vineyards, assembled plot by plot by Jonatan García Lima and his father near Puerto de la Cruz, sit on a west-facing slope of the Orotava valley at roughly 600 to 700 metres, partly trained in the old braided style. The range is built like a ladder: 7 Fuentes is the easy red blend of Listán Negro with Tintilla, farmed organically; Trenzado is a village-level white; Vidonia is a flinty, full-bodied Listán Blanco; and La Solana is a single-plot wine. At the time of a 2014 profile, winemaking was led by Roberto Santana of Envínate, which explains the shared light-touch instincts. Start with 7 Fuentes and Trenzado, then move up to Vidonia.

Vino de Municipio and Vino de Parcela: the islands' own village and single-plot labels.

Alongside the island DOs there is an archipelago-wide label ladder that runs from region to island to municipality to single plot. Use it as a hint that a producer is selling place, not a blend.

Besides the island and valley DOs, the Canaries have a voluntary archipelago-wide quality umbrella, DOP Islas Canarias, with its own ladder of origin words: Vino de Región, Vino de Isla, Vino de Municipio and Vino de Parcela. It sits alongside the island DOs rather than replacing them, and not every good producer uses it. Some estates use similar words on their own ranges: Suertes del Marqués, for example, calls its Trenzado a vino de pueblo (village wine) and its La Solana a vino de parcela (single plot). A recent identity certification for Canary wines has also started, with Bodega El Lomo's Origen 1989 reported as the first wine to carry it. For a buyer this works like Burgundy's village and vineyard ladder: a municipality or plot name usually signals a smaller, more site-driven and more expensive bottling.

Los Bermejos: Malvasía Seco, a sweet naturalmente dulce and a Champagne-method fizz.

A family-led Lanzarote estate with low-yielding, hand-farmed old vines. Its dry Malvasía is a top Lanzarote white; the late-harvest sweet and the sparkling are the specials.

Bodega Los Bermejos, run by winemaker Ignacio Valdera, farms old, ungrafted vines planted in pits dug through the hardened lava crust. Yields are tiny, all vineyard work is done by hand and some wines are certified organic depending on the vintage. The Malvasía Volcánica Seco is gently pressed and aged on its lees in tank; it is the estate's volume bottle, a clean, mineral and aromatic dry white. Two styles make it stand out from the pack. The Malvasía Naturalmente Dulce is a late-harvest sweet wine sold in a half-bottle, a good dessert and gift wine. The sparkling Malvasía is made by the traditional method, the local answer to Champagne for a celebration. Check the vintage of each style, as stock changes from year to year, and drink the dry white young.

Envínate: four friends, no make-up wines - Táganan reds and whites from old parcels.

A collective of four young winemakers best known on Tenerife for the Táganan range. They work old parcels with very little sulphur, and their wines are lean, saline and very drinkable.

Envínate is the best-known low-intervention name in the Canaries. Four friends - Roberto Santana, Alfonso Torrente, Laura Ramos and José Martínez - also work in Ribeira Sacra, Almansa and Extremadura, but their Tenerife wines are what many wine lovers know best. Their approach is non-interventionist: very low sulphites, and a preference for charm and precision over power. The Táganan Tinto is the way in, a fresh, smoky red; the single-parcel wines such as Parcela Margalagua, from a century-old vineyard, and Parcela Amogoje show how much old Canary vineyards can say. The generic Táganan white has been described as among the saltiest wines around. The wines are charming young and can look fairly evolved, a little oxidative at times, so drink them rather than cellar them for a long time.

Borja Pérez: young star of the north-west - Ignios Orígenes Baboso Negro, Artífice.

A talented young winemaker working local rare grapes. Ignios Orígenes Baboso Negro is the smoky, powerful rediscovery red to try.

Borja Pérez is one of the young Tenerife winemakers who have pushed the north-west forward. His wines make a case for island grapes that were nearly forgotten, above all Baboso Negro, a dark, powerful, smoky and sometimes leathery red. His Ignios Orígenes Baboso Negro is a good example: structured and savoury, unlike the usual fresh Listán Negro. He also bottles the Artífice wines, which give a second angle on the region's old vines. Like most small Canary producers, quantities are limited, so expect to find the bottles in specialist shops or on the island rather than on supermarket shelves. A Baboso Negro tasting side by side with a Listán Negro is the quickest way to see how different the Tenerife reds can be, and to understand why growers are replanting forgotten varieties.

Marmajuelo: rare aromatic white, and a parent of Lanzarote's Malvasía Volcánica.

A nearly lost white now being revived on Tenerife. Can be citrusy and tropical, or broad and ripe when made richly.

Marmajuelo matters for two reasons. It is a rare white that a few revival producers on Tenerife now bottle alone, in styles from citrusy and tropical to broad and ripe. And it is a parent of Malvasía Volcánica, the Lanzarote grape that is a natural cross between Malvasía Aromática and Marmajuelo, and is now recognised as a variety in its own right. The Malvasía family on the islands is itself complicated: Lanzarote's Malvasía is genetically distinct from the Malvasía of Tenerife, which matches the Malvasía of Lipari and Madeira, and La Palma's sweet wines have their own Malvasía history. For a buyer, the practical point is that a bottle labelled Malvasía may be a different grape depending on the island. If you find a varietal Marmajuelo, drink it as a white of its own, not as a cousin of the Lanzarote Seco.

Black volcanic soils drain fast: small crops, salty, fresh wines.

The soils are volcanic ash, pumice and broken lava. They hold little water, so vines work hard and ripen small, concentrated crops with plenty of acidity and a smoky, mineral finish.

The soils are volcanic ash, pumice and broken lava. They hold little water, so vines work hard and ripen small, concentrated crops with plenty of acidity and a smoky, mineral finish.

In the glass: Smoke, salt and stone with fresh acidity

Altitude and Mount Teide split Tenerife: a humid north, a dry south.

Tenerife's north catches Atlantic cloud and makes more aromatic whites and lighter reds. The south is drier, and its whites can taste almost salty. Vineyards run from near sea level up to some of Spain's highest, around 1,600 metres on the slopes of Teide.

Tenerife's north catches Atlantic cloud and makes more aromatic whites and lighter reds. The south is drier, and its whites can taste almost salty. Vineyards run from near sea level up to some of Spain's highest, around 1,600 metres on the slopes of Teide.

In the glass: North: perfumed and delicate. South: drier, saltier, firmer

Wind-proof farming: Lanzarote's pits and walls, Tenerife's braided vines.

Lanzarote vines sit in hand-dug pits behind low lava-stone walls that shield them from the trade winds and catch dew. In Tenerife's Orotava valley, vines are trained low and long in a braided cordón. Both keep grapes healthy in a windy, dry place.

Lanzarote vines sit in hand-dug pits behind low lava-stone walls that shield them from the trade winds and catch dew. In Tenerife's Orotava valley, vines are trained low and long in a braided cordón. Both keep grapes healthy in a windy, dry place.

In the glass: Low yields and healthy fruit that stay fresh in a warm climate

Phylloxera never arrived: old ungrafted vines, now facing a first scare.

The islands escaped phylloxera, so most vineyards are on their own roots and some vines are very old. A first small outbreak was reported on Tenerife in 2025.

Phylloxera, the root louse that devastated much of Europe's vineyards in the 19th century, never reached the Canaries, and that is the single biggest reason the islands are special. Vines grow on their own roots, some reportedly 100 to 200 years old, and growers on Lanzarote and Tenerife keep pre-phylloxera plots. Some of the oldest Ycoden vineyards were even propagated by layering, an old technique abandoned elsewhere after the louse arrived. Own-rooted old vines give small crops, deep concentration and the salty, chalky length that collectors look for. The picture is now changing: a first phylloxera focus was reported at Valle de Guerra, near La Laguna on Tenerife, in July 2025, in a garden arbour and neighbouring abandoned land rather than a wine district. Treat the situation as a live story and check the latest news before relying on the 'untouched vines' line.

In the glass: Concentration, tension and length in old-vine wines

Steep terraces and tiny plots keep prices above Spanish norms.

Most vineyards are small, terraced and worked by hand, with mechanisation almost impossible, and land is costly. Good Canary wine is not Spain's cheapest, but even the top single-vineyard bottles rarely reach grand-cru prices.

Most vineyards are small, terraced and worked by hand, with mechanisation almost impossible, and land is costly. Good Canary wine is not Spain's cheapest, but even the top single-vineyard bottles rarely reach grand-cru prices.

In the glass: Small, concentrated crops; character over power

Light reds are often made by carbonic maceration for a juicy, fruity style.

Whole bunches ferment before crushing, a gentle method that keeps Listán Negro fresh, fruity and soft in tannin. Some modern growers skip it for a more savoury result.

Whole bunches ferment before crushing, a gentle method that keeps Listán Negro fresh, fruity and soft in tannin. Some modern growers skip it for a more savoury result.

In the glass: Juicy, fruity, low-tannin reds

Braided cordón: long, low vines plaited on wooden frames.

In the Orotava valley, vines are trained low and long, in a braided cordón that can run many metres along wooden supports. Grapes ripen at the ends, with air moving beneath the fruit.

In the Orotava valley, vines are trained low and long, in a braided cordón that can run many metres along wooden supports. Grapes ripen at the ends, with air moving beneath the fruit.

In the glass: Healthy, evenly ripe fruit; fine, delicate whites and reds

Lanzarote vines grow in pits ringed with lava walls.

Growers dig out a hollow through the ash to reach fertile soil, then build a low stone wall on the windward side. The result is the island's famous landscape and well-protected vines.

Growers dig out a hollow through the ash to reach fertile soil, then build a low stone wall on the windward side. The result is the island's famous landscape and well-protected vines.

In the glass: Healthy, wind-protected fruit; low yields and fresh acidity

Lees ageing adds depth to Malvasía Volcánica.

Some top Lanzarote whites rest on their yeast lees in tank to gain a richer, creamier texture and more length, while keeping the mineral edge.

Some top Lanzarote whites rest on their yeast lees in tank to gain a richer, creamier texture and more length, while keeping the mineral edge.

In the glass: Creamier, longer, more complex whites

Low-intervention wines from old parcels, with almost no sulphur.

Envínate and other small growers work gently and use very little sulphur. Wines are fresh, saline and charming young, with a slightly wild edge.

Envínate and other small growers work gently and use very little sulphur. Wines are fresh, saline and charming young, with a slightly wild edge.

In the glass: Lean, saline, expressive, with some savoury or oxidative notes

Sweet Malvasía is made from late-picked or partly dried grapes, not by fortifying.

Lanzarote and La Palma make 'naturalmente dulce' wines by letting grapes ripen very late or dry. Acidity keeps the sweetness fresh, and the colour deepens with age.

Lanzarote and La Palma make 'naturalmente dulce' wines by letting grapes ripen very late or dry. Acidity keeps the sweetness fresh, and the colour deepens with age.

In the glass: Honey, dried apricot and caramel, with lively acidity