Malvasía Volcánica

Malvasía Volcánica is Lanzarote’s flagship grape, close to 70% of everything planted on the island (and it also turns up on Tenerife and Gran Canaria). It isn’t the same Malvasía you find all over the Mediterranean: it’s a natural Canary cross, between Malvasía Aromática and Marmajuelo, and the “Volcánica” tag is not for show. It tastes of the volcanic grit it grows in: salt, wet stone, white flowers and an acidity that holds it all up even when the wine is bone dry and the August sun is hammering down.

It makes dry whites that are among our favourites anywhere, but also off-dry ones, sweet late-harvest bottles and even traditional-method sparklers. The magic is the effortless elegance, like it isn’t even trying: fresh, saline, long, no need for oak or fireworks. If you want to understand what volcanic wine is about, you start here.