Lanzarote’s wine harvest, known as la vendimia, will begin this month. It’s a critical time for one of the island’s most important products.
The unique landscape of La Geria is usually peaceful, uninterrupted by humans, but this month will see scores of casual labourers in the fields in the early morning, carrying out the hard labour of gathering hundreds of thousands of kilogrammes of grapes.
It promises to be a challenging harvest. Iván Monreal of Bodegas Vulcano has predicted that this year’s vendimia will be “difficult, irregular and expensive” as a result of the weather conditions over the last year.
Monreal told RTVC that grapes were growing at different rates, with some developing normally while others are lagging behind. This means that they will have to be gathered at different periods, which involves more time and more labour costs.
Part of the reason for this irregular growth is the abnormal weather conditions in late 2024 and 2025. From November until February the Island experienced virtual drought conditions, with rainfall far below the average.
That changed with some heavy downpours in March, April and May which, although welcome, were also not normal for the time of year.
Last year’s harvest was poor, with a final total of 1.3 million kilos of grapes harvested. This was far below the bumper crop of 3.3 million kilos harvested in 2023, but last year’s grapes were said to be of high quality.
The price that winemakers pay suppliers for grapes is decided each year and depends on the quantity of grapes produced as well as the difficulties of the harvest, but in general the cost has doubled within the last 15 years and the average price of €3.50 for a kilo of malvasia grapes in 2024 was the highest ever.
This is good news for the grape producers, but it also means that Lanzarote wine is now a luxury product, with few bottles available for under €13. Nevertheless, the recent boom in tourism has ensured a good market for local vintages, many of which have already sold out by this time of year.
Local wines are also receiving more and more attention abroad, regularly winning awards in wine contests, but while the demand for Lanzarote wines remains so healthy on the island, there is little incentive for the island’s bodegas to seek out export opportunities.
Wine Watching
If you want to find out more about wine growing on Lanzarote we’d recommend a visit to the La Geria, El Grifo, Stratvs or Rubicón bodegas. Don’t miss the fiesta at La Geria, which takes place on August 15th where grapes are gathered by workers in traditional costumes, carried by camel to be weighed and then dumped into a stone vat where visitors can tread on them.
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