Lanzarote 2005: Feb 26th – Mar 5th

1999 Mozaga, Lagar reserva, Lanzarote Tinto, Lanzarote/Canarias, Spain: Tired ruby, clear. Soft mature red fruit in the nose. Despite 13% vol alc medium body at best but nice taste, soft fruit, low tannins and even less acidity. Slightly hot finish but nice aftertaste. Good match with a simple lunch and even good enough to take a sip without food. Tasted2005Mar. NoScore. Not blind. Not decanted. Water glass.

2002 La Vegueta, Lanzarote Tinto, Lanzarote/Canarias, Spain: Dark ruby, bright, fat tears. Dark fruit and hint of cess pool in the nose. Medium body (13.5% vol alc), soft dark fruit, taste of dark vulcanic ground, basic levels of tannins and acidity. Medium finish, dark soft fruit, specific aftertaste. Fine with meat or dark fish like tuna. Score: 50 + 4 for optic + 12 for bouquet + 16 for taste + 6 for overall = total score of 88. Tasted2005Mar. Score88. Not blind. Not decanted. Generic red wine glass.

2003 Bermejo, Lanzarote Tinto, Lanzarote/Canarias, Spain: Red currant nose, red currant wine taste. Maybe a bit too much sulphur. Smell and taste of an american hybrid variety. Tasted2005Mar. NoScore. Not blind. Not decanted. Very small wine glass.

2003 El Grifo, Lanzarote Tinto (Listan Negro), Cuatro meses en barrica (american and french oak), Lanzarote/Canarias, Spain: Mediem garnet. Bit tired red fruit in the nose, slightly oxidized, else nice with food. Tasted2005Mar. NoScore. Not blind. Not decanted. Water glass.

2003 La Geria, Lanzarote Tinto (Listan Negro), Tres Meses en Barrica (american oak), Lanzarote/Canarias, Spain: Medium garnet. Champignons in the nose. Thin body, very tender, quite soft. Tasted2005Mar. NoScore. Not blind. Not decanted. Simple wine glass.

2003 Reymar, Lanzarote Tinto (Listan Negro), Cuatro meses en barrica, Lanzarote/Canarias, Spain: Medium garnet. No nose. Thin body, slightly smoky and bit peculiar taste, hint of acidity. Tasted2005Mar. NoScore. Not blind. Not decanted. Water glass.

2003 Vega de Yuco, Lanzarote Tinto (Listan Negro & Negramol), Lanzarote/Canarias, Spain: Medium garnet. Some not very fresh fruit. Thin body, some tannins, bit of acidity. Fine with food, even fish. Hints of slightly dubious aromas and flavours could be interpreted as indicators of vulcanic terroir. Tasted2005Mar. NoScore. Not blind. Not decanted. Simple wine glass. Con su escudo de arenas, ni el sol las abraza, aunque las calienta, ni el aire las seca, aunque las depura, ni el aqua copiosa las roba, aunque las fertiliza.

Typical Lanzarote vineyard: Is this agriculture or land art?

Another vineyard:The yield per hectare is rather low here as you can imagine

Vineyard detail: Where are the vines?

Vineyard with a view: Vineyard in the La Geria area with straight walls on the borders of a black desert hill and with an eye catching palm tree

Vineyard with a palm tree: Same vineyard, closer look, other light


Vineyard with stright line stone walls: This is a vineyard near the El Grifo winery with a nice wine museum attached.
Despite the great effort combined with low yield the prices are rather low - in average between 5-8 Euro in retail and 10-12 in restaurants


Vineyard details: At a less exposed site only straight walls of lava stones to protect the vines against the wind. The sweet and dry white wines are considered superior to the red ones, but the dry red Listan Negro & Negramol based wines are also rather interesting and have a distinct flavour after vulcanic soil (at least you can imagine this)

El Golfo: Nice small city in the south of Lanzarote. The atlantic ocean seems a bit angry here so there is always some heavy surf giving a fascinating spectacle.
Nice small restaurant facing the seafront, for example the Placido: There is no such decadent thing like a menue - the only offer is the daily catch of fresh fish with an accordingly fresh salad as entrée and a creme caramel with coffée as finish. Take this with a bottle of mineral water and a bottle of Lanzarote wine (no problem to combine the red one with fish - even better than the a bit too fruity white one) and you have a fine dinner.


Some more surf: Again Los Hervidores. This lava cliff gives delivers resistance to the ocean

Surf: Atlantic in motion. Better than television


Sardines: Fresh fish and sardines are a common meal on Lanzarote and highly to recommend. Here we have some sardines over a grill with only vulcanic heat

Potatoe fielt: Small potatoes boiled in very salty water combined with red sharp and a bit softer green sauce called "Mojo" are a very local side dish

Corn field: I am not sure but I think this is corn


Vineyard on a slope. In some weeks there will be some green here also

Lone vine with a first green tip. Unbelievable that something can grow on this ground


Saline: On the southern coast of Lanzarote: Production of salt in the Salinas de Janubio by evaporation of sea water

El Golfo with running waves: Nice light and some more spectacular waves

Rolling waves near El Golfo: We liked this part of the coast in the south of Lanzarote called Los Hervideros most because of the spectacle of the never tiring surf

Colored sky over the ocean: The clouds move very fast on Lanzerote and the weather was a bit unreliable - here you know were the weather comes from: From the ocean


Uga - View from our residence in Lanzarote: In the center of southern Lanzarote. Unspectacular but nice small village near the beautiful city Yaiza. Our luck: One of the best restaurants in this region is La Era in Yaiza. We visited it twice in one week. Rustic ambiente but refined regional cooking. There is even a menue degustacion and a reasonable wine list including one page of Lanzarote wines with some half bottles if you want to try different choices

Work in the vineyard: Some work to do in the vineyards now, most of them in the south of Lanzarote in a region called La Geria. Most of the area is covered with pyroclasts: Small lava fragments (few mm in diameter) from vulcanic eruptions together with ash and also greater stones, on Lanzaroto also called Lapilli. Each vine sits in a small crater of Lapilli with a round wall out of lava stones against the winds. In a few weeks the first leaves will show and there will be a lot of green in the grey/black vineyards


Teguise - Vila Real: Nice town in the very center of Lanzarote. The market on Sunday is a great event with tourists flowing in from the whole island. On the other days of the week rather quiet.

Cactus field: There is a lot of cactus fields in the northern part of the islands. The fruits are used to make jam


Haira - City of 1000 palm trees: May be the number of palm trees is only 999 but this is a very picturesque city in the center of the northern part of the island without heavy tourism. The view from the road coming from the montains is breathtaking.

The restaurant Casa'l Cura in Haria was highly recommended but made a rather curious impression to us - when we had a look at it we found it closed in the front and busy from the backyard: It was full with the guests of 3 tourist busses so we avoided it. I later learned that this was probably the wrong decision and that we "missed a very honest meal" - maybe next time

Small port, nice boats: This small port in the small town of Orzola is in the very north of Lanzarote with a ferry service to the small Graciosa island nearby.

Speaking of ports: The best restaurant on Lanzarote for us was the Bar del Club in Porto Calero (rather new marina with probably bad return in investment so far, many buildings are still not in use): Fairly decent (seemingly a bit stiff but counterbalanced with nice service and soft jazz music) restaurant with several small rooms and a large terrace in front of the port. Small but excellent menue and wine card and acceptable wine glasses.