Wednesday, 25 March 2015 11:06

Lanzarote White Wine Taste Off

Lanzarote wine tasting Lanzarote wine tasting

With Lanzarote's La Geria, Vega de Yuco and El Grifo white wines common on Gran Canaria supermarket shelves and selling for seven to eight euros, we tasted all three so that you know which is the best buy.

The three are dry white Malvasia wines from the La Geria wine region of Lanzarote so we expected them to be similar and to be typical Lanzarote whites.

Malvasia whites from Lanzarote are aromatic and should remind you of summer fruits like apricots and peaches, and white flowers like jasmine. They taste crisp and fruity and have a long, intense finish. Good ones have a characteristic zing.

Here're the results of a blind tasting of the 2014 vintage of all three: 

La Geria

Smells of vanilla and wood with a hint of lemon. In the mouth dry and crisp with no real fruit flavours. No malvasia zing and no intense finish. A hint of wood suggests that this wine has been lightly oaked.

The poorest of the three: Not worth the 7 euro price tag and not a good representative of Lanzarote's white wines.

El Grifo

This wine has pedigree: It's made by the oldest winery in the Canary islands and one of the oldest in Spain. 

There's not much going on in terms of smell. A slight fruitiness is all we could detect. Once you try it you get a hint of citrus (Limoncello) and an intense finish. The acidity is balanced by a tiny bit of sweetness. El Grifo definitely has the Malvasia zing, but it does lack a bit of flavour.

We put it in second place; far better than La Geria but not quite as good as ...

Vega de Yuca

This wine smells intensely of white flowers like jasmine, but that doesn't come through so much when you try it. 

In the mouth, there's a hint of citrus and plenty of acidity and Malvasia zing. Overall it's a great Lanzarote white but it does smell a bit better than it tastes and it lacks a little in intensity. 

Overall we thought it was the best of the three and great value. 

Conclusion

The El Grifo and Vega de Yuco are good value for seven to eight euros and we recommend trying them when you're in Gran Canaria. If you like them and want to explore other Lanzarote Malvasia's look out for Yaiza (in the tall blue bottle) and Bermejo (green bottle with a rounded top). The Yaiza sells for 10 to 12 euros and Bermejo starts at 13 euros. The extra money gives you tropical fruit flavours and a richer feel in the mouth. 

For a cheaper taste of Canary Islands wine, the La Frontera (tall green bottle) from El Hierro sells for less than five euros in big supermarkets and is far better than most Spanish wines at the same price. It's crisp, fruity and acidic and goes beautifully with white fish. 

 

Published in Wine

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Tip of the day

  • The Parafarmacia In Gran Canaria Is Not A Chemist!
    The Parafarmacia In Gran Canaria Is Not A Chemist!

    If there is one thing we hate it is visitors being tricked in Gran Canaria. In the past we've warned about overcharging at Gran Canaria chemists, and rip off electronics shops in resorts. 

    In this Tip Of The Day we return to the island's chemists or rather, to the island's fake chemists.

    A chemist in Gran Canaria is called a Farmacia and always has a green cross sign. Farmacias are the only place tobuy medicine in Spain, even basics like paracetamol.

    However, there is another kind of shop in Gran Canaria that looks and sounds like a chemist but doesn't sell medicine. This is the Parafarmacia and it also uses a green cross sign.

    A parafarmacia is a herbal medicine shop that is not allowed to sell any normal medicine such as paracetamol, ibuprofen or antibiotics. 

    Instead, parafarmacias sell herbal alternatives to medicine but don't have to prove that they work and they can charge whatever they want.

    We recently heard from a visitor to Gran Canaria who went into a parafarmacia and was charged 40 euros for a herbal alternative to Ibuprofen. It was only when they read the label that they realised what had happened. 

    To locate a genuine farmacia, see this website and search within your municipio (Puerto Rico is in Mogán, Playa del Inglés is in San Bartolomé de Tirajana). At weekends and on fiesta days many farmacias close but there is always one open, known as the farmacia de guardia, in each municipio.

    Search for the nearest one to you with this tool

    Lex Says: To keep costs down, see this article for the way to ask for generic medicine rather than expensive branded alternatives. 

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