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Roaming Through Lanzarote’s Otherworldly Vineyards – The New York Times

January 30, 2021 by ADSWineReporter

roaming-through-lanzarote’s-otherworldly-vineyards-–-the-new-york-times

At the onset of the coronavirus pandemic, with travel restrictions in place worldwide, we launched a series — The World Through a Lens — in which photojournalists help transport you, virtually, to some of our planet’s most beautiful and intriguing places. This week, Mónica R. Goya shares a collection of images from the Spanish island of Lanzarote.


Situated some 80 miles off the southwest coast of Morocco, Lanzarote — with its stunning coastline, desert-like climate and plethora of volcanoes — is the easternmost of Spain’s Canary Islands. Major volcanic activity between 1730 and 1736, and again in 1824, indelibly altered the island’s landscape and helped pave the way for an improbable sight: a vast expanse of otherworldly vineyards.

In recent years, Spain has devoted more land to vines than any other country in the world. And while the Canary Islands, more broadly, have a longstanding wine tradition — the archipelago’s wines, for example, were mentioned in several of Shakespeare’s plays — nothing could prepare me for the uniqueness of Lanzarote’s vines.

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At the coastal rock formations known as Los Hervideros, underwater caves create dramatic sound (and visual) effects.

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The dark sand beach near Charco de los Clicos, on Lanzarote’s western coast.

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The Papagayo coast, at the southern tip of the island, is known for its sandy beaches and calm waters.
The Papagayo coast, at the southern tip of the island, is known for its sandy beaches and calm waters.

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Famara Beach, in the north, is three miles long and popular among surfers.

The most remarkable wine area on the island is La Geria, a 13,000-acre protected landscape which lies at the foot of Timanfaya National Park, one of Lanzarote’s main tourist attractions. It was here in Timanfaya that volcanic eruptions buried around a quarter of the island (including La Geria) under a thick layer of lava and ash, creating a breathtakingly barren scene — and eventually leading to a new way of growing vines.

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The 10-mile-long Route of the Volcanoes at Timanfaya National Park follows a single-track road.

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Characteristic scenery — with almost extraterrestrial qualities — at Timanfaya National Park.

Many of the vines on Lanzarote are planted in inverted conical holes known as hoyos, which are dug by hand to various depths, each one made in search of the fertile soil underneath the ash and lapilli. In a counterintuitive twist, the ash plays an essential role in the vineyards’ success: It protects the ground from erosion, helps retain moisture and regulates soil temperature.

Low semicircular rock walls protect the vines from the merciless winds. Together with the hoyos, they contribute to an inventive growing method that might easily be mistaken for a network of sculptural art.

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Harvesting grapes from deep hoyos near the village of Masdache, in La Geria.

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A bunch of white grapes of the Diego variety, which are famous for their acidity.

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Vines grow in a hillside plot near the village of Uga.

La Geria is a superb example of humans working hand-in-hand with nature. In a way, the immense — if desolate — beauty of this area is evidence of human resilience in the face of adversity: For hundreds of years, inhabitants here have managed to extract life from volcanic ash on an island often plagued by drought.

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Houses across the island are typically rectangular in shape, and are painted white.

But changing weather patterns (including scarcer-than-usual rainfall) and harsh economic realities are persistent threats. The traditional hoyos system can yield about 1,200 pounds of grapes per acre. Other less traditional (and less time intensive) cultivation systems on the island can yield up to 6,000 pounds per acre — by utilizing higher-density growing techniques and some forms of mechanization.

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Timanfaya National Park covers about 20 square miles.

An economist by trade and environmentalist at heart, the winegrower Ascensión Robayna has a strong connection to Lanzarote and a serious commitment to conservation. For years she has tended high-maintenance and low-yielding organic vineyards, adamantly asserting that this unique landscape, and the traditions embedded within it, must be kept alive.

“Growing vines in hoyos means that farmers adapted to the special circumstances of soil and climate, creating the most singular of the agrarian ecosystems,” she said.

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Ascensión Robayna stands beside a lava fissure, called a chaboco, where ancient muscat vines are grown.

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Ms. Robayna outside Puro Rofe, a winery founded on the island in 2018.

There’s an obvious sparkle in Ms. Robayna’s eyes whenever she descends into the lava fissures, called chabocos, where trees and grapevines — especially muscat grapes, among the oldest of varieties — are grown. (Puro Rofe, a winery founded on the island in 2018, recently released a wine made exclusively from her chaboco-grown grapes.)

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Ms. Robayna among her vines, with the El Cuervo volcano in the distance.

In the late 19th century, a pestilent aphid, phylloxera, decimated grapevines throughout mainland Europe. (The wine industry there was salvaged by grafting European vines onto American rootstocks, which were immune to phylloxera.) By contrast, phylloxera never reached Canarian shores. As a result, vines here can be planted on their own roots — a relative rarity in the wine world.

Hundred-year-old vines and unique grape varieties are a common sight across the islands. Malvasia Volcánica is arguably the island’s most well-known grape variety; others include Listán Negro, Diego and Listán Blanco.

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In La Geria, grapes from the hoyos are harvested by hand.

Once, while visiting a set of vineyards near Uga, a small village in southern Lanzarote, I followed the winegrower Vicente Torres as he climbed barefoot — the traditional way of working here — up the hillside to inspect his vines. With the lapilli tickling my feet, and while sinking slightly with each step, I found the ascent more arduous than I’d anticipated. Growing anything in this soil, I learned, is hard work.

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Vicente Torres, of the Puro Rofe winery, walks around his vineyards barefoot, the traditional way of working in the hoyos.

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Mr. Torres in his vineyard, near the village of Uga.

According to regulatory data, this year’s harvest is expected to be less than half of last year’s, with a forecast of about 2.6 million pounds of grapes.

“The oldest men around here say they don’t recall a year as bad for vineyards as this,” said Pablo Matallana, an oenologist who grew up on neighboring Tenerife but has family roots on Lanzarote. “We have been enduring two years of extreme drought. Some plots have debilitated considerably, and the vigor of the vines has decreased,” he said.

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Listán Negro grapes in a palm leaf basket, which were traditionally used for harvest until lighter options became available.

Rayco Fernández, a founding member of the Puro Rofe winery and a distributor praised for having been one of the first to showcase quality Canarian wines, agreed. “The drought is ruining vineyards,” he said, adding that the ash, where there is a thick enough layer of it, has been a lifeline.

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Pablo Matallana’s Vinícola Taro white wine is made from Malvasia grapes.

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Mr. Torres tastes wine straight from the barrel at Puro Rofe.

But Lanzarote faces other threats, too. Tourism accounts for a significant portion of the island’s gross domestic product. And, despite a relatively low number of confirmed coronavirus infections, this economic sector has largely evaporated.

According to a Covid-19 economic impact study conducted at La Laguna University, Lanzarote’s G.D.P. is projected to drop by 21 percent.

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Harvested grapes are carried off a plot in La Geria.

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A hoyo vineyard in Masdache.

With the number of winegrowers falling, and climate change wreaking havoc, the future of winemaking on Lanzarote appears more challenging than ever.

There’s no doubt, though, that the island holds a kind of mythical sway over its visitors. It’s been almost a year since my last trip to Lanzarote, yet I continue to revisit certain images in my mind: of vines emerging from the majestic hoyos at the foot of Timanfaya — a splendor still to be treasured there, at least for now.

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Morning light over freshly harvested Diego grapes at a vineyard in La Geria.

Filed Under: Vineyards

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