No one would guess that Arnulio Torres, the slim, fibrous man who moves deftly on the slippery slope of volcanic ash, is 89 years old. Vine growing keeps him in shape and fills him with joy, but it also gives him a few headaches.
He shows us how his vines are trained, with the branches arranged in a circular pattern around the trunk. His is a very personal way of training vines. In fact, the Llanos Negros area is a mosaic of little plots farmed by a myriad of owners, each with their own peculiarities: some leave the bunches of creeping vines almost at ground level while others choose more contemporary training systems, similar to low pergolas. Pedro chose the latter. He is one of the youngest, most dynamic winegrowers in this southwestern area of La Palma and rarely skips a daily visit to his plot after work. Could his professional approach encourage the new generations to farm the vineyards again?
Located at 200 to 400m elevation in Los Quemados, most of the Malvasía plantings of the island are found in Llanos Negros, a prized grand cru for the variety. The finest piece of land in the village of Fuencaliente, its landscape was shaped by the eruption of the San Antonio volcano in 1677. The lava flows (locally called malpaís) carved out the black slope where, in order to plant a vine, growers have to dig through the ash until they reach fertile soil. The process is the same regardless of whether they use new cuttings or a technique known as margullón consisting of burying a branch deep in the ground so that a new vine can sprout. After two or three years, once the new plant is established, it is "weaned" (detached from the mother vine). The last step is possible because the Canary Islands are free of phylloxera -in mainland Spain the mother-child connection must remain for life.
Framed by the deep blue colours of the sea and the sky set against the black ash, the Llanos Negros vines create a somewhat anarchic, yet magical and fragile landscape, judging by the growing number of neglected plots and terraces. Yields are low, the pressure of wildlife is on the rise (some vineyards are now fenced off) and the stubborn drought of recent years is making things worse. "Without water, plants die," remarks Arnulio, who at least can afford to irrigate his plot in the winter. He used to grow Listán Blanco here as well, but the low price paid for this grape is not worth his efforts.
Listán fetches around €1.5/kg against €3.50 for Malvasía destined to dry whites (it is the sought-after variety) and €6-7 for late-harvest bunches set to make sweet wines. These prices are provided by Carlos Lozano, winemaker at the Llanovid cooperative with 30+ vintages under his belt. Although these Malvasía grapes must be some of the best paid in Spain, it seems obvious that the increasingly extreme climate and precarious farming conditions will have an impact on the future of this beautiful corner of La Palma.
The visit to Llanos Negros was the prelude to the I Malvasía Encounter at Fuencaliente, an event organised by the town council to delve deeper into this grape variety regarded as one of the village's symbols.
The workshop included presentations by Master of Wine Pedro Ballesteros and María Francesca Fort (in the photo below), professor at Tarragona's Rovira i Virgili University. She is also coordinator of the Vine Biology Area at the Enological Technology Research Group and has focused her efforts on the study of Spain's insular varieties since 2012. We missed the lecture by wine expert and educator Juancho Asenjo about the historical journey of Malvasia from the Mediterranean to the Atlantic. He was unable to attend due to health issues, but he has generously shared some thoughts for this article. I had the pleasure of conducting a fascinating tasting that included dry and sweet Malvasías and several old vintages that revealed how beautifully the wines can develop in bottle.
The encounter also featured the presentation of the book La tierra del malvasía: etnografía de la viña y el vino en Fuencaliente de La Palma by Miguel Hernández Cabrera and Aythami González Díaz. This is an interesting read as it includes a wealth of historical data, precise details about wine growing and even popular local proverbs and sayings.
It was evident throughout the conference that Malvasía has a powerful suggestive appeal, "a magic word in the mind of wine enthusiasts," as Pedro Ballesteros put it. This would explain the large number of grape varieties that take this name but have nothing to do with the true Malvasía.
Only in the Vitis International Varietal Catalogue (VIVC), the benchmark database of grape varieties, María Francesca Fort counted 220 entries under this name. Many of these are synonyms or false Malvasías (in Spain the name Malvasía Castellana is given in Toro to Cayetana Blanca, Pardina or Dona Blanca; Malvasía Riojana is Alarije; and Malvasía Púrpura grown in the Canary Islands is Grec Rouge), which leaves a final list of 62 unique grape varieties classified as such that form the family of Malvasías.
As Juancho Asenjo reminds us, the term 'malvasia' was historically used to describe "a type of sweet, aromatic and fairly alcoholic wine that was very popular in the Middle Ages and lent its name to many grape varieties". The first records of Monovasia or Monemvasias wines date from 1214 in Ephesus and appear in a chronicle by Nicolaos Massarités about political and religious events, whereas imports by Venetians were recorded as early as 1278. Hence, the origin of the variety is usually attributed to Monemvasia in the Peloponnese. Another theory points to Crete, even though it could have been brought to this island by the Venetians to expand its cultivation and boost the profitable wine trade.
Although no trace of it remains in Greek vineyards nowadays, Malvasía spread clearly by sea from the east to the west shores of the Mediterranean, as evidenced by its presence in Croatia, Calabria, Lipari (Aeolian Islands), Sardinia, Catalonia and the Balearic Islands. The recreation of Maria Francesca Fort based on genetic lineage substantiates such journey. Of the four populations of Malvasia that she identifies (see graph below), the oldest one is situated between the Balkans and southern Italy. There appears Malvasia Dubrovacka, the main name given at VIVC to Malvasía Aromática grown in Spain, which includes Malvasía de Sitges in Catalonia, Banyalbufar in Mallorca and Malvasía from La Palma which is also present in other Canary Islands.
According to Asenjo, the earliest mention of Malvasía in Spain dates from 1318 in the port of Alcira, in present-day Valencia, when it was part of the Kingdom of Aragón. The variety was introduced in Madeira in the first half of the 15th century and from here it must have been taken to the Canary Islands. Or perhaps there was a twofold scenario as the slave ships travellling from Barcelona-Mallorca-Seville-Cádiz to the Caribbean, stopped in the Canary Islands.
The archipelago itself, as Fort stresses, was an incubation centre for new grape varieties, two of which are part of the Malvasía family. Whilst Lanzarote's Malvasía Volcánica is the offspring of Malvasía Aromatica and Marmajuelo, Malvasía Rosada is a colour mutation.
Malvasía was the first prominent wine produced in the Canary Islands, and La Palma played a key role in spreading it. Following the conquest of the island in 1493, the first vines are believed to have been planted around 1505. The Portuguese influence was strong in the early days, both in terms of viticultural practices and the choice of grape varieties. The leading grape-growing area at the time was Las Breñas, thanks to its proximity to the flourishing port of Santa Cruz, which, shortly after Antwerp and Seville, was granted the privilege to trade with America.
As Santo Bains recounts in his book The Epic Wines of the Canary Islands, plantings spread so widely after colonisation that the island was soon able to export "significant quantities of high quality sweet Malvasia wines to the European aristocracy via Flanders and London."
La Palma held a dominant commercial position until 1657 when a trade concession required all ships sailing to America to register in Tenerife. Its position was further weakened with the liberalisation of the shipping trade to the New World in 1778 and the arrival of the American plagues, mildew and powdery mildew (the Canary Islands is phylloxera-free), in the 19th century.
Earlier, in 1677, the eruption of the San Antonio volcano "buried the district of Los Quemados and many bushels of crops", wrote Hernández Cabrera and González Díaz in their book La tierra del malvasía (Land of Malvasía). But the catastrophe also shaped a unique terroir as volcanic ash provided the perfect conditions to preserve humidity in one of the warmest areas of the island. From then on, the best wines of Fuencaliente were produced here and Llanos Negros went on to be known as "the place of Malvasía."
Unlike blends called vidueños, Malvasía was a noble grape with significant alcohol strength and produced a naturally sweet wine. No external addition was needed – its alcohol, sugar and acidity provided natural balance.
Nowadays, dry wines get more attention. They may feel pure and more direct as they provide a sense of place, reflecting the character of the soils and the proximity to the sea. But they should also contribute to raise awareness of the sweet versions thus increasing their recognition and great value -they cannot be produced on a yearly basis and are very demanding in the vineyard (late harvests are very delicate to handle) and in the winery.
A tasting of wines from three producers based in Fuencaliente - Carballo, Llanovid and Victoria Torres Pecis- proved that, beyond the inherent aromatic strength of Malvasía, the variety achieves its maximum expression in the site of Llanos Negros. It is not just its high alcohol, but also the variety’s ability to balance opulence and acidity, both in dry and sweet versions. Indeed, the skin of Malvasía is very tasty (we had the chance to eat a few grapes on site), so skin maceration is often involved in the wines.
The flight of dry wines allowed us to taste side by side two different vintages of Victoria Torres Pecis (at SWL we published a detailed piece about her lifetime project and wines). A rich, lush 2017 with captivating aromas (stone fruit, aromatic herbs, honey and white flowers) that she sees as a transition wine, and a 2019 in line with her current vision of the vineyard and the variety. She picks earlier now and the 2019 showed fine reduction aromas (sunflower seeds, toasted notes) and a finely delineated, long palate. While 2017 may feel irresistible right now, I would wait for the 2019 to reach its climax in bottle.
The wines of Llanovid cooperative widened the range of styles significatively. We tasted La Batista 2018, a Malvasía macerated with the skins for 12 hours and aged in barrel for eight months; a new orange wine that is part of an experimental range named Singularis; and a very dignified Teneguía 2010 that spent one year with its lees in stainless steel tanks before its release. It was easy to fall for the richness and sweeping saltiness of La Batista and its characterful, long aftertaste. The skin-contact experience worked well on the nose, but alcohol was a bit high; nevertheless, fermenting with skins seems like a path worth exploring. In terms of the evolution of a 2010 vintage made to be enjoyed young, acidity proved to be a reliable backbone to keep the wine alive even if the toasted nuances had taken a dominant role.
Carballo is a traditional producer that makes sweet Malvasía. The bodega uses a traditional wooden press made from local pine trees (pino de tea) and musts are left to macerate on the skins overnight. We tasted a direct, fruit-driven 2020 aged for two years in stainless steel tanks. It had some weight on the palate but felt rather light next to the Llanovid Llanos Negros from the same vintage, with greater body and concentration. In contrast, the Carballo Edición Limitada 2013, aged for two years in oak barrels, was fuller, beautifully balanced and long.
Victoria Torres Pecis also brought a very traditional 2013 made by her father before he passed away, with some brandied notes and lots of depth. Alcohol was a bit higher, but it had similar residual sugar (70g/l) to Carballo's.
Unlike other Spanish sweet wines from warm areas, the high acidity of Malvasía adds length and finesse to the palate, avoiding heavy or sticky sensations. Thus, without tarnishing the natural concentration that over-ripening brings, it creates a fluid mouthfeel that was vividly present in Victoria Torres Pecis’s 2017, despite it being a hot vintage. Another interesting element is its moderate sweetness - sugar content in all of the wines ranged from 70g/l to just over 100g/l.
The icing on the cake were two 2000s from Llanovid. Aged for about a year in stainless steel tanks, Teneguía 2000 retained considerable balance and elegance 20+ years later. The Reserva, made with 12% botrytised grapes and aged for 12 months in oak, showed a very different profile: powerful, with the wood still present. It tasted sweeter (115g/l residual sugar), but showed very little evolution in return.
The ageing potential of these Malvasía wines is clear, but the miniscule volumes do not come even close to meeting the demand. It doesn’t matter how well-placed these wines are in Michelin-starred restaurants (they are perfect to woo clients or create sophisticated pairings) if wine enthusiasts don't have the chance to try them. Profitable as they are (at Llanovid, Malvasía represents 3% of production, 25% of turnover), it is hard to understand why there is not a stronger commitment to winegrowing in Llanos Negros to "rethink the territory on the basis of knowledge and training," as Pedro Ballesteros suggested in his speech.
In the meantime, Malvasia Aromática is experiencing a slow, yet firm renaissance in Spain in the hands of growers and producers who pursue quality and are not discouraged by such a demanding grape variety which requires, for instance, long pruning and is highly prone to powdery mildew. The recovery has been remarkable in Penedès, starting from a single surviving plot in Sitges -this is one of the most beautiful stories of Spanish wine-, but it has extended to other regions, too. According to Spain's Ministry of Agriculture, with data from 31 July 2021, there are 63ha in the Canary Islands, 75 in the Balearic Islands, 115 in Catalonia, and as much as 148 inland in Castilla-La Mancha.
This means that we can expect a bunch of Malvasía releases in the coming years. It also means that wines from Llanos Negros in La Palma have a unique opportunity to sit at the top of the category. But this would require addressing worrying issues likes the lack of generational replacement or putting in place sustainable and rational growing techniques to recover neglected plots and restore the sites' surface under vine according to tradition and quality potential. It would be a shame that the future deprived us of such beautiful, characterful wines.
There are other producers sourcing grapes from Llanos Negros whose wines we didn’t have the chance to taste:
