Canary Islands
Spanish islands located in the Atlantic about 65 miles off the southwestern coast of Morocco and approximately 685 miles southwest of Spain. The winemaking history of the Canary Islands dates back hundreds of years and the dessert wines were particularly famous in the seventeenth and eighteenth centuries. In recent years, the Canary Islands have become a new, flourishing wine region. Five of the islands in this subtropical archipelago now have dos: El Hierro (Hierro DO), Gran Canaria (Elmonte DO), La Palma (La Palma DO), Lanzarote (Lanzarote DO), and Tenerife, which has five DOs (Abona, Tacoronte-Acentejo, Valle de Güímar, Valle de la Orotava, and Ycoden-Daute-Isora). The first DO in these islands was Tacoronte-Acentejo, which is also the largest with over 4,000 vineyard acres. It’s also the most progressive in adopting modern winemaking methods. This DO is primarily red-wine country, with Listán Negro and Negramoll (Negra Mole) the dominant red varieties. Wines from these two varieties, along with traditional La Palma dessert wines made from malvasía, are attracting the most attention.
The New Wine Lovers Companion, 2nd Edition, by Ron Herbst and Sharon Tyler Herbst. Copyright © (1) 2003, 1995 by Ron Herbst and Sharon Tyler Herbst. Reprinted by arrangement with Barron's Educational Series, Inc.