Gran Canaria – Searching for Wine 

Where are we? A Spanish island, Gran Canaria, almost a 3 hour flight from Madrid, volcanic soils, a very interesting place to go wine tasting, but can we find the wine? 

When my friend said to meet her in Gran Canaria I immediately thought that there was going to be good wine there. In that sentiment I was not wrong, but finding that wine was a whole different story. Without the support from mainland Spain or much wine tourism on the island, Gran Canaria wineries have found themselves in a peculiar situation leading them to export almost all of their wine.

Researching the islands grapes and wines made me incredibly excited to try some new wines and see the vineyard landscapes of Gran Canaria. However, trying to find wine tourism information on the island and create a tasting plan became one of my most difficult missions yet. I only found a blog post or two about Gran Canaria, the tourism boards website only had information about the wine museum in Las Palmas. Unlike most of my wine tourism intineraries I felt like I was going into this one more or less blind. But with an idea of the varietals grown, I decided to write down as many wineries as I could find and just go seek them out. 

Gran Canaria tourism board linked here.

Here’s what I found. 

In a sea of Northern Europeans on Gran Canaria you are more likely to find Chilean and New Zealand Sauvignon Blanc for under $10.00 than wines from the island. This left me with a sad taste in my mouth, for how mass tourism can alter a place if they don’t find a way to use it to your advantage and increase sales of locally made goods. Gran Canaria seems like a perfect example of construction and building economy soaring as wealthy people grow the massive condo rental industry, and forget about what else the island has to offer.

The island itself is a pretty cool place, filled with deserted moon like landscapes, massive beaches, and a lively historic city Las Palmas. Pockets of built up condo areas dot the islands coast. From winter tourism (a snow bird vibe) condo communities fill the circumference of the island. While I found I didn’t really understand which country I was in on the coast, going into the centre of the island you meet a very Spanish vibe. The centre, or more like the northeastern middle is where you will find vineyards growing in the rich volcanic soils and most wineries. After coming from Italy where driving 30km can make you feel like you’re in a different country, I truly didn’t expect the language and identity to seem so Spanish, an island this far away from mainland Spain really felt like you were on a Spanish island. Typical plates can be found for under 10 euros at the quiet restaurants along the windy roads; bean soups, meatballs, and local foods that I believe you would have a pretty hard time finding elsewhere on the island. Most lunches on the beach and in the tourist areas cost 3x that of what you would expect in Spain. 

Back to wine, what has happened? A winery owner explained to me that because mainland Spain does not buy any of the wine from Gran Canaria, and tourists do not seek local wines, most of their wine is exported to The United States. Just the idea of that shocked me, isn’t it such a strange idea that one of the only places in the world that you can find Gran Canaria wines is in The United States?! Without tourism boards driving people to the wine, there will be no local sales. There seemed to be some wine bars in Las Palmas which offered local wines, and the grocery stores always had a couple, but the overwhelming majority were imported wines at half the price.

Spain in the third largest wine producer in the world, so we can not expect the mainland to basically import all of Gran Canaria’s wines. However, the island is now essentially in the position to only export their wine to different countries, which I can only assume hinders the quality and income because exporting will always bring less revenue than local sales. 

The island seems like a beautiful grape growing challenge. The arid climate, intense sunshine, rich volcanic soils, and steep hills scream grow grapes on me to me! The main wine growing region is the area at the base of the mountain inland, nearing the centre of the island, called “Caldera de Bandama”. It is a volcanic reservoir and the area where most of the islands wine is produced. The islands vines were never touched by phylloxera which devastated most of Europes vines, leaving some incredibly old vines. Also, the islands mesoclimate allows for a wide (for the size of the island) range of wine styles, both in the methods of making and in the varietals. 

Wine tourism on Gran Canaria – what are you looking for? What varietals are grown?

Malvasia: an aromatic grape making a complex wine that can be either made in a dry or sweet style. 

Listan Bianco (also known as Palomino) often used to make Sherry but is an important dry white wine for the island expressing complex minerals.

Listan Negro (also Palomino) which can also be used to make a light and fruity red wine. 

Marmajuelo which is ONLY found in the Canary Islands is very difficult to grow but you might expect notes of exotic fruits and high acidity.

This location and the grape varieties create some very interesting wines (from what I was able to try). All I wanted to do was try more, but they were so hard to find! My heart felt heavy as I saw how little tourism supported the islands production. As wine consumers what we can do is support Gran Canaria wines and buy them if we do find them. If you are on the island for tourism or vacation, take the time to go in and tour some of their exciting terrain, find a winery, and support their craft.