Vijariego in Lanzarote: the grape only three wineries bottle
The grape arrived from Andalusia in the 16th century. Today you drink it by the glass at El Grifo's wine bar, by the bottle at Vulcano's boutique, and under another name at Los Bermejos.
Malvasía volcánica rules Lanzarote. It is the grape nearly every winery on the island works with, and its white is what you will be drinking at most visits and tastings. Vijariego is the other story: a minority variety, much prized, that today only three houses work: El Grifo, Vulcano and Los Bermejos. If you already know your malvasía by heart, this is the wine to go looking for.
The grape was born far from here. Los Bermejos traces its origins to the south of the peninsula, where you can still find it in the high areas of La Alpujarra, in the province of Granada, and El Grifo tells how the variety, brought to the Canary Islands from Andalusia in the 16th century, finds in Lanzarote a unique expression.
The three wineries that work it
The variety is concentrated in the hands of a few.
| Winery | Municipality | What it does with the grape |
|---|---|---|
| El Grifo | San Bartolomé | Two wines with Vijariego: the Vijariego sobre Lías and a co-fermentation with Malvasía volcánica |
| Vulcano | Tías | Its white Vijariego, on sale at the boutique and the online shop |
| Los Bermejos | San Bartolomé | The grape goes under another name: its wine is called DIEGO |
Of the three, El Grifo opens the most doors to this grape, and it has been making wine since 1775. When you are working out where to go, you will come across it twice: the winery, with its visits, and the wine bar, which sits inside the same grounds, on the LZ-30 at kilometre 11. One house, two plans.
By the glass: the wine bar of El Grifo
Drinking Vijariego in Lanzarote takes no booking. Sit down at El Grifo's wine bar, where the August 2026 list pours fifteen of the winery's wines by the glass and brings the varieties of the island down to one line: Malvasía Volcánica, Listán, Vijariego and Syrah. Two of those wines carry Vijariego: the Vijariego sobre Lías and the co-fermentation of Malvasía volcánica and Vijariego blanco, at 6 € a glass, IGIC included.
If your plan is a guided tasting, the list offers three flights of three wines at 12 €, served and explained by the house team. The tasting that goes by the name 3 Colores brings a rosé, a white and a red: a Rosado de Lágrima de Listán Negro, the Vijariego sobre Lías as the white, and a long-keeping Syrah, the Reserva de Familia. And if you fancy something to nibble, the list suggests the Vijariego sobre Lías itself alongside almogrote gomero, the traditional cheese spread at 9,50 €.
The wine bar opens Monday to Friday, 10:30 to 18:30. No glass at the weekend, so save this plan for a weekday.
The Vijariego sobre Lías, and what has been said about it
Vijariego at El Grifo has two faces. The first is the wine that carries its name, the Vijariego sobre Lías, which ages on its own lees and which the house presents as a dry white made only from Vijariego blanco, with fruit from the area of montaña Juan Bello. The magazine mdt ran a piece on it in October 2025 under a headline that does the work of a tasting note and promises elegance and freshness from montaña Juan Bello.
The other face is the co-fermentation with Malvasía volcánica. El Grifo argues that these are two historic varieties that complement each other naturally, and in describing the wine it writes that the Vijariego brings a firm, precise acidity that balances the whole. In ABC, the journalist Pilar Cavero highlighted the house's Vijariego as one of those distinctive wines, and both reviews are collected on the winery's website.
As for how each wine tastes, what there is to go on is what the winery and the press that has tasted it have said. The rest is down to the glass, which is there for exactly that.
Vulcano: the bottle, in the boutique and the online shop
At Vulcano the grape goes into the bottle. Its white Vijariego is sold at the winery's own boutique, in Puerto del Carmen, and online as well. The boutique opens in the mornings, Monday to Friday from 10:00 to 14:00, and closes at the weekend.
The way to see inside the winery is an experience organised together with the company Wine Tours Lanzarote. It lasts about three hours, starts at the vineyard the house farms in Masdache, continues at the winery in Tías and ends with a tasting of four wines and goat's cheese from Lanzarote, in groups of eight people at most. It runs once a month, costs 59 €, offers pickup in Puerto del Carmen or meeting directly at the winery, and is open from age 12, with soft drinks for the under-18s.
Los Bermejos: the same grape under another name
At Los Bermejos the grape does not carry its name on the label. Its wine is called DIEGO, and the winery's website explains that the variety is also known as bujariego or verijadiego. The house sits in the municipality of San Bartolomé and opens Monday to Friday, 8:00 to 15:00. Its visits are not confirmed, so do not count it as a fixed stop on a route.
How it fits your trip
If your visit to the island is a short one, El Grifo's wine bar settles the search with nothing more formal than asking for a glass. If wine runs the day, the same house has guided experiences from 15 € to 95 € and the Vijariego sobre Lías in the shop to take away. And if you are after Vulcano's bottle, go early: the boutique has no afternoons.
* We recommend checking the exact conditions of each offer with the provider.