If you love wine, if you enjoy walking among vineyards — in short, if you’re a wine tourist — start looking for a flight to Lanzarote and treat yourself to a break. You won’t regret it.
It was in Rome — I honestly don’t remember at which event — that at the end of my tour of the various tasting counters, I put my nose and mouth into an Orange Wine from El Grifo. A wine I immediately described as intriguing. Something different, with aromas I had never encountered before, an extremely long finish, and a desire to taste it again and again. I placed it among my three favorites of 2023, and perhaps that’s why my first “Canary” appointment was set at El Grifo.
Lanzarote is a very special island. Unlike the other Canary Islands, Lanzarote has tried to preserve its identity. It’s an island where your mind must be ready to shift, in just a few kilometers, from a super‑romantic little harbor dominated by shades of blue to a lunar landscape dominated by black. From a beach where you can walk endlessly at the mercy of the wind to an urbanized area where you might end up having dinner but decide to avoid the following night.
Wine is made in Lanzarote. When the soil begins to shift from brown to black, that’s where the bodegas start. I head straight to El Grifo. An appointment that almost fell through due to their commitments was saved by my last‑minute blitz right after landing at the airport.
Black soil, white walls, a magnificent cactus garden to our right. Bush vines planted in cracks in the lava. Then an elegant reception area and a welcome that immediately makes you understand that here, wine tourism is taken seriously.
Minerva is at our disposal and takes us on a tour full of history and curiosities. She’s very good, and I’m sorry she didn’t want to appear on video. I’m even more sorry now that I’ve edited the video while reliving that visit. By the way, Minerva — when you read this article, know that I had to work hard not to turn the camera toward you…
Wine has been made here for a long time. It’s a pity that Canarian wines aren’t so easy to find here in Rome.
After the tour, we move to the tasting counter.
The Ancestral is memorable. The Orange wine remains one of my favorites, and it pains me not to be able to take a whole case with me.
Interesting too to learn about their Vijariego grape, planted near the Malvasia to keep rabbits away — they can’t stand its smell…
The rest is in the video. Long, but in my opinion very useful for understanding more about an area we probably know little about.
