A guardian of the historic wines of Lanzarote, this producer still keeps two ancient casks of Malvasía dating back to 1881, as well as old documents explaining the way these wines were made in the past. Brothers Juan José and Fermín Otamendi are the fourth generation in charge of El Grifo since their great-grandfather acquired several vineayrds in the eponymous site of La Geria, a region with breathtaking volcanic landscapes, between 1870 and 1880. Previously, the winery was in the hands of two other families: the Torres’s, who built most of the old buildings and the De Castro’s, owners between 1820 and 1880. Established in 1775, El Grifo is the oldest winery in the Canary Islands and one of the oldest in Spain.
Paradoxically, Lanzarote was the last island to plant vines in the archipelago. Focused on cereal crops, vines owere planted only after the volcanic eruptions of 1730 to 1736 –ash, called rofe or picón in the island, protects the soil and prevents the evaporation of water. Local producers were mere suppliers of wine until well into the 20th century. Although there is evidence of some bottlings of Malvasia in the 1930s, the grandfather of the current owners followed the model of Port and Malaga wines. Wines were aged in the local port of Arrecife, then shipped to Tenerife and Gran Canaria. Winemaking was thus conditioned by trade and transport. Today, tourism drives the buoyant local market; 85% of the half million bottles produced annually by El Grifo are sold on the islands.
El Grifo owns 32 hectares of vines, grows an additional 30 from relatives and buys grapes from around 300 purveyors, most of whom are vocational growers with an average age of 72 years. The lack of generational replacement is one of the biggest problems in the area, as well as the scarcity of water (average rainfall is barely 100 mm per year) that make viticulture conditions rather extreme. Another concern is the significant variations in yields from one vintage to another, which requires a lot of foresight; the most obvious solution is to increase the amount of aged wines. Vineyards are being progressively converted to organic farming; since the 2020 harvest, all the wines are fermented with natural yeasts.
Malvasía Volcánica, Lanzarote’s signature grape variety, plays a dominant role in the distinctive screen-printed bottles featuring a mythological winged griffin (grifo in Spanish) designed by César Manrique, a renowned local artist and conservationist. The most widely available wines are the semi-sweet and the dry Colección Malvasía (both retail around €14.5 in Spain, but the first one is particularly popular in the local market), even if the one aged with its lees (30,000 bottles, around €19.5 in Spain), which is expected to gain prominence in the future, is more interesting. The grape has proved versatile enough to produce a traditional method sparkling wine which has been disgorged at different stages pushing ageing time beyond three years.
In reds, Listán Negro is the dominant grape variety. El Grifo produces an interesting rosé (€14.5), a fresh expressive red (El Grifo Colección, 35,000 bottles, €16), a serious, balanced blend with 30% to 40% Syrah (Ariana, €22) and the sweet red George Glas (€40), named after a Scottish seaman and merchant who lived in the Canary Islands in the mid 18th century. “He wrote a wonderful book about our island,” says Juan José Otamendi. This is a complex fortified wine made from grapes which were left to overripe on the vine.
The jewel at El Grifo is sweet Malvasía. According to the great-grandfather's accounting books, the fully ripe grapes were dried in the sun for seven to eight days to increase sugar levels. Once fermentation had reached 10% vol., alcohol was added up to 18% vol., then the wine would be aged in barrels. The process continues to this day on vintages showing the required sugar potential. This can happen every three, four or six years.
Wine lovers can discover this style with Canari (€80), a vintage blend sold in 50 cl. bottles. The current release is a blend of three vintages: 1956, 1970 and 1997. There is also a sweet Moscatel made in similar way. Grapes in this case are sourced from chabocos, which are cracks or holes that emerged in the trail of lava retaining higher levels of humidity.
The winery also produces a white with the indigenous grape variety Vijariego (€17). This is a late-ripening, thick-skinned variety which, as with Moscatel, used to be destined for raisins. On an experimental level, there is an interesting orange wine -Moscatel with a whooping five months of skin-contact- and a Listán Negro which is destemmed "grain by grain". As grapes are pressed before the end of fermentation, the style is fragrant an evocative, in line with other modern reds that are setting the trend in the islands.
Visiting El Grifo is highly recommended for anyone wishing to enjoy the breathtaking volcanic landscape that surrounds the winery and tour the ancient buildings that house a small but very interesting museum.
