Listán negro: the red grape that never leaves the Canary Islands

18 businesses carry it, from El Grifo to houses that number their bottles. It is the island's main red grape, and it grows ungrafted on its own roots, as it did before phylloxera.

Everyone talks about Malvasía volcánica on Lanzarote, and rightly so. But the island also drinks red, and its red grape has a name of its own: Listán negro. It stands behind the reds and rosés that get poured here, and behind clarete, the island's house wine. If you only taste whites, you leave without having tried the island's other colour.

Because the grape is in the visits of the big wineries and in the glasses of the wine shops, but also in runs so short you have to ask the house for them.

Before phylloxera, on its own roots

On its website, El Grifo says it plainly: "a pre-phylloxera grape variety, planted on its own roots and exclusive to the Canary Islands". The three parts of that sentence are worth the trip. Pre-phylloxera means the vineyard predates the plague that wiped out the vineyards of Europe, and on the same page they hammer it home: "phylloxera never touched this land of fire". Own-rooted means the vines grow on their own roots, without grafting, because here the plague never forced grafting. And exclusive means what it says: if you want to try it, you have to come to the islands.

The way it is grown is its own, too. The vine sits sunk into a hoyo opened into the ash, which holds the moisture of the few rains, with a curved wall of stone in front that cuts the wind. Instead of rows that fade into the distance, there are thousands of hoyos dotted over the malpaís. It is slow farming, done by hand, and it is a treat to see up close.

Red, rosé and clarete

On the wineries' websites the variety shows up mostly in three forms. Bodega Olivina, in Guatiza, describes its red Respiro with cherry and black pepper aromas and a soft texture, and paints its rosé Respiro as light and pale pink, with notes of wild strawberry and rose petals. Bodega Titerok-Akaet makes a red and a rosé from Listán negro, and says of its rosé that it has plenty of colour, plenty of aromas and plenty of freshness.

The clarete deserves a stop. It is made with the two Listanes together, the black and the white, and it sits between red and rosé. Titerok-Akaet, a house that has been recovering parcels since 2014 and farms organically, bottles a clarete called Lanzarote, with the two varieties from the La Geria area. It is the wine to order when you want to drink what the people of the island drink.

The bottles you can count

La Verea, in Tinguatón, bottles two pure Listán negro wines. The rosé Malvarrisco comes from vines over seventy years old, and there are 114 numbered bottles of the 2024 vintage. The sparkling Nubium Brut Nature Rosé, raised by the traditional method, completes the pair with 98 bottles of the 2023 vintage. Roca Negra, in Masdache, takes another path: it centres its production on two grapes, Malvasía volcánica and Listán negro, and brings out varietal whites and reds.

Tisalaya makes the red La Vegueta with Listán negro planted thirty years ago, also own-rooted, and its winery is in Tajaste, in Tinajo. And at Jable de Tao, a wine of Malvasía volcánica and Listán negro harvested on 20 July 2024 is fermented in a clay tinaja. El Grifo mixes it too. In the Ariana it goes with Syrah, and on its website they recall the 5 points Spanish Wine Lover gave the 2017 vintage: "This combination of Syrah and Listán negro works like a well-matched marriage". The Ariana is poured by the glass at the house's wine bar, at 6 €, and it also goes into its tasting of three glasses with commentary, at 12 €.

Where to try it

The most complete way is a visit with tasting, and El Grifo sets the scale. For 15 € there is a 45-minute audio guide that finishes with two glasses, and up to age 17 entry is free. The five-wine tasting with commentary is 30 €, and the two-hour visit with six wines and Canarian cheeses is 50 €. All of it Monday to Friday.

At Stratvs, inside the Barranco del Obispo beside Timanfaya National Park, the daily guided visit of an hour ends with three wines and artisan cheeses from the estate, and the winery opens every day from 10:00 to 19:00. It was born in 2008 around a Canarian house of 1730 that today works as the shop, and every Saturday it programmes its Maridaje Sonoro, from 13:00 to 15:30.

The sunset at Finca Testeina closes the day well: a visit of an hour and a half through the vineyards of a 16th-century estate, with tasting and artisan chocolate, for 26 €. It runs in English on Wednesdays and in Spanish on Thursdays, and children from 5 to 17 pay 15 €.

With no visit involved, the Casa Museo del Campesino houses the Casa del Vino Canario, which holds workshops and tastings with its sommelier where the islands' native varieties appear in the glass, Listán negro among them. It takes visitors from 10:00 to 15:00, Monday to Friday. In its wine shop is the Althay Negro Avelina, a monovarietal Listán negro from the winery Casa Althay, to take with you if it wins you over. In Puerto del Carmen, La Rika serves signature tapas with a selection of Canarian and Spanish wines, Monday to Saturday nights, from 19:00 to 23:00, with a terrace. And Wine Tours Lanzarote runs daily wine tours around the island, with visits and tastings, based in Puerto del Carmen.

The table, business by business

Opening hours as of October 2026.

Five of the houses in the table publish no hours, and others, such as Lágrima de Malvasía or Los Bermejos, have their visits unconfirmed, so with those the first step is the phone or the email. Little is left open at the weekend: on Saturday Stratvs, Roca Negra, Winelanz, La Rika and the Wine Tours routes open, and on Sunday only Stratvs and the routes.

Which to choose

If you come to understand the variety, El Grifo's two-hour plan and the tastings at the Casa del Vino Canario show it from the inside. If the plan is just a drink as the evening falls, El Grifo's wine bar and La Rika's terrace, in Puerto del Carmen, settle it with no further programme. And if you want a bottle for the journey, Vega de Yuco's shop, in Masdache, and Winelanz, which also delivers to your door, are the most convenient places to buy.

* We recommend checking the exact conditions of each offer with the provider.