La Geria: the guide to the wine region

Black ash, vines in hollows and stone walls: La Geria is where Lanzarote's wine lives, and it is best visited by appointment.

If you are planning a wine day in Lanzarote, start with the numbers. La Geria gathers more wine businesses than any other part of the island: eighteen of them, fourteen wineries, spread across Tías, Tinajo and Yaiza. Twelve of them welcome visitors, the other six are unconfirmed, and only two of the guided visits publish a price. Word of mouth matters more than signposts here, so the first thing is knowing who to ask.

And yet the vineyard itself is worth the trip before any tasting. The soil is black and the green does not come in rows: it sits level with the ground, inside funnel-shaped hollows dug into the ash. Around each hollow curves a wall of volcanic stone, and in that picture the vine looks like it has no business being there.

The hollow, the wall and the ash

The Lanzarote vineyard recipe is easy to see and hard work to keep. The funnel-shaped hollow is dug so the root can reach the fertile soil the ash hides, and around it rises a semicircular stone wall that breaks a wind that never rests. The ash completes the system: it holds the moisture of the air in a sub-desert climate where rain barely exists. It is hand work, vine by vine.

Malvasía Volcánica is planted above all in these hollows, and depending on the house you will also find Listán Negro, Diego and Moscatel.

The wineries open every day

Three houses cover the easy visit, the any-day visit.

The first is the one named after the area. Bodega La Geria sits at kilometre 19 of the road that gives the region its name and is the busiest gateway in the comarca, with more than 4,000 reviews built up. There is a guided visit every day, with wine tour and tasting options bookable on the website, and it runs in Spanish, English, French and German. For food there is a tavern on site, La Cepa. Three things to know before you book: places go on sale twelve days before the chosen date, groups of more than eight people are arranged by email, and the route is not accessible for anyone who walks with difficulty or for baby pushchairs.

A step away, on the same stretch of road, sits Bodegas Rubicón, and its charm is that walking in costs nothing. From 10:00 to 18:30 you can walk the whole estate, with restaurant, tavern and shop inside. The house's guided visit, Entre Muros y Viñedos Centenarios, runs daily at 13:30, lasts 45 minutes and costs 22 €, with children aged 11 to 17 at 5 €. The house itself asks you to book ahead and to take a hat and sun protection into the vineyard, especially in summer. There is a second visit, El Legado Rubicón, covering the vineyard, the family house and both cellars, the old one and the modern one, with three wines at the end. No published price. And every so often the winery fills with jazz: the sessions are announced on its website with tickets at 25 €.

The third daily house is Stratvs, in the Barranco del Obispo, next to the Parque Nacional de Timanfaya according to its own website. It was born in 2008 around a Canarian house from 1730, today turned into its gourmet shop. The house is advised by Raúl Pérez, whom it presents as one of the most outstanding winemakers in the world. The guided tour runs every day, lasts about an hour and finishes with three of his wines and artisan cheese from Finca de Uga. On Saturdays at midday, from 13:00 to 15:30, comes the Maridaje Sonoro: live music with a glass and something to nibble.

The ones open only some days

The three above fit into any afternoon. The ones below need a look at the calendar, and one of them is worth the effort.

Finca Testeina is a 16th-century house at the foot of the volcano that gives it its name, inside the Paisaje Protegido de La Geria. You visit the vineyard and the old house, and the wine you taste is not made on the estate: it comes from Bodegas Vega de Yuco. The sunset visit with tasting and the island's artisan chocolate is the one with a price, 90 minutes for 26 €, on Wednesdays in English and Thursdays in Spanish. Children from 5 to 17 pay 15 €. On Tuesday evenings they run a themed workshop on Malvasía Volcánica, with four wines from that winery, in English. The estate closes Mondays, Saturdays and Sundays, and on weekdays it straddles morning and afternoon.

In Masdache, what is left is two separate mornings. Roca Negra is a family winery open only on Saturdays, from 8:00 to 14:00, for visit and tasting. Martinón opens Tuesdays and Thursdays, from 9:00 to 14:30, and takes visits by prior booking over the phone.

In Tinajo, Lanzarote Natural presents itself as the smallest winery on the island. The visit comes with a tasting of wines and prickly pear juice, with enyesque, the Canarian nibbles. It starts at 10:00 or 12:00, and the time is confirmed by WhatsApp. Besides wine, you can buy volcanic flor de sal, jams and mojos there: visit and shopping in one place. Cohombrillo is the home of single-plot natural wine, with an organic estate, its own harvest and wine tourism by reservation only, with no published hours. Las Cadenas, in La Vegueta, announces guided visits on its social media and opens from 8:00 to 18:30 Monday to Saturday. And Bodeguita Vega Volcán, in La Asomada, makes artisan and organic wines with the grape varieties of Lanzarote. Tasting and sales, and you have to ask for the hours.

No guided visit: glass, shop and kitchen

Casa del Vino Canario lives inside the Monumento al Campesino grounds, César Manrique's work dedicated to the island's farming tradition. Behind the counter is Vicenta Mira, a sommelier, and the proposal is to taste wines from all the islands at one table. There are guided tastings, advice based on what you like, and a shop with gift sets and accessories. It opens Monday to Friday from 10:00 to 15:00, and closes at the weekend.

Winelanz, in Uga, combines a retail shop with a wine shop: wines from the islands, a gourmet shelf and gift boxes made to order, with private tastings, sampling sessions and home delivery. On its website it claims the largest selection of Canarian wines. It opens Monday to Friday from 9:30 to 14:00 and Saturdays from 9:30 to 16:00.

El Lagar de Baco, in Playa Blanca, is the evening option: wine shop and restaurant with music, open every day from 12:00 to 23:00. The tapas run from Canarian cuisine to international, according to its page.

The twelve you can visit

We gathered the twelve that open to visitors, with their hours and their plan, so the day falls into place in one go.

The remaining six houses are unconfirmed, and one of them, El Lagar de Baco, has already appeared above: there the natural thing is to sit at a table, not to follow a route. The other five, Bodegas Barreto, Bodegas Montaña Clara, Bodegas Tisalaya, Entre Latidos G63 and Finca Fajardo, are worth a phone call before you set off, and with Finca Fajardo the digital trail ends at that call.

Before you get in the car

You get around this area by car. Most of the big houses sit along the La Geria road, and a morning is enough for two or three visits strung together. The wine shops of the south, in Uga and Playa Blanca, need a trip of their own. Booking is the rule more than the exception: the daily houses sell their places through their websites and the small ones work by appointment, so you can improvise, with luck. And the last step before leaving is the house's website or phone, because hours and calendars move.

Depending on how you come

If La Geria is your first contact with the island's wine, start at Rubicón. Entry is free and the 13:30 visit links landscape, history and winemaking in 45 minutes. If what you want is to take the landscape slowly, the Stratvs tour is the long option, and on Saturdays live music rounds it off. And if your trip ends late, El Lagar de Baco keeps the glass going in Playa Blanca until eleven.

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