ISLAND WINES – ARE THEY A NEW THING??

There is nothing new about wine from the Spanish islands. English characters – most famously Shakespeare’s bibulous knight Sir John Falstaff – liked nothing so much as a “cup of Canary” or “sack”, as they called Spanish fortifed wine 400 years ago

It’s taken a good few centuries, though, for the wines to be recognised in the same breath as those from the mainland. But today the Canaries, as well as the Mediterranean Balearic Islands, are rapidly gaining a reputation for the quality of their bright and elegant wines, made from a kaleidoscope of exotic – and ancient – grape varieties. Malvasía, Albillo Criollo (a Canarian strain of Albillo) and Verdelho are familiar, but Marmajuelo, Gual, Vijariego Blanco, Negramoll, Listán Blanco, Listán Negro, Listán Gacho, Malvasía Negro, Listán Prieto, Vijariego Negro, and Baboso don’t exactly trip off the tongue. Discovering their individual qualities, though, is a worthwhile exercise.