Canary Islands Wine Tour: All Aboard The Grape Escape

Arrive in Lanzarote, settle in and meet your fellow Tipplers before heading to NAO in Arrecife for our first brewery discovery.

Explore the brewery on an arranged visit, then sample its beers at El Camarote, where glass separates the taproom from production. Finally, a window worth staring through.

Local flavours and our welcome dinner get the introductions flowing. Learn everyone’s names, discover who already knows their hops and establish who will photograph every drink before allowing anyone near it.

Overnight: Lanzarote.

Explore La Geria, where vines grow in volcanic hollows protected by little stone walls. It looks like someone has tried gardening on the moon and accidentally produced an excellent wine list.

Visit El Grifo for our first winery experience, discovering the island’s winemaking history and tasting wines shaped by its unusual growing conditions.

After a Canarian lunch, continue to a second Lanzarote producer for another perspective on the island’s wines. Compare styles, meet the people behind the bottles and practise using “Malvasía Volcánica” confidently in a sentence.

By this evening, someone will claim they can taste the landscape. We’ll give them a moment.

Overnight: Lanzarote.

Travel to Playa Blanca and ferry across to Corralejo, Fuerteventura, where the scenery changes and the research continues.

Today’s pairing is island-made beer and Majorero cheese. Discover local flavours and learn why the island’s goats deserve considerably more recognition than they receive in holiday brochures.

There’s time for coastal exploring and a little beach relaxation before we continue south towards tomorrow’s departure port.

Finish with dinner and sunset views. A demanding day for anyone professionally opposed to enjoying themselves.

Overnight: Fuerteventura.

Sail from Morro Jable to Las Palmas, then head to Arehucas Distillery in Arucas, with the day’s order arranged around the ferry and visitor opening times.

Explore the rum-making story, visit the ageing cellar and discover what happens when someone takes sugarcane extremely seriously. A tasting rounds off our introduction to Canarian spirits.

Later, settle into Las Palmas and explore the historic streets of Vegueta before dinner.

Tonight’s conversation starter: which barrel would make the most practical addition to your spare room?

Overnight: Gran Canaria.

Head into Gran Canaria’s wine country around Bandama for a visit to Bodega Los Lirios, our proposed third winery.

Explore the vineyard and cellar, meet the people behind the wines and enjoy a tasting with local flavours. Volcanic scenery supplies the backdrop; the producer supplies rather better explanations than “it’s the soil, probably”.

Lunch and exploring complete our day in the wine country before returning to Las Palmas.

The evening is yours to revisit a favourite restaurant, stroll by the sea or investigate whether yesterday’s favourite wine remains your favourite today. Reproducibility matters.

Overnight: Gran Canaria.

Travel to Agaete and sail to Santa Cruz de Tenerife, before continuing towards El Sauzal for our visit to TACOA.

Our second brewery experience takes us behind the scenes before a tasting introduces the house beers. Compare styles, ask questions and discover whether your group contains a previously undetected beer enthusiast who has been waiting six days for this moment.

Food accompanies the discovery, giving us a welcome change from discussing grape varieties.

Settle into our Tenerife accommodation and enjoy a relaxed evening. You’ve now visited four islands, which should earn you something more substantial than another boarding pass.

Overnight: Tenerife.

Begin at Bodegas Monje, our fourth winery, for a visit, tasting and a hands-on mojo-making workshop.

Crush, mix and discover how a few ingredients can transform potatoes into something people discuss with alarming passion. This is your opportunity to return home with a new skill beyond identifying which suitcase contains the bottles.

Lunch brings local flavours together before we continue to a second Tenerife winery, taking our running total to five.

Compare producers and styles as we explore more of the island’s wine culture. By dinner, “I usually just buy whatever’s on offer” may feel like something you said in a previous life.

Overnight: Tenerife.

Travel south to Los Cristianos and sail to Santa Cruz de La Palma.

Today gives the palate a gentler schedule. Settle in, explore the old town and enjoy its colourful streets, Atlantic setting and excellent opportunities to sit down.

Find a café, browse the shops or take a coastal stroll before dinner introduces La Palma’s wines.

This is also a sensible moment to assess your luggage. That bottle purchased on day two has now enjoyed a surprisingly comprehensive holiday.

Overnight: La Palma.

Head to Fuencaliente for our sixth winery visit at Bodegas Teneguía.

Discover southern La Palma’s volcanic wine landscape, its growers and its distinctive wines, including Malvasía Aromática. Taste, compare and consider whether you’ve left sufficient suitcase capacity for an emotionally significant purchase.

Explore the southern volcanic scenery and enjoy local food before our farewell dinner.

Tonight brings the highly unofficial Tipple Island Awards: best wine, best beer, best discovery and the bottle most likely to require its own seat on the flight home.

Acceptance speeches must be shorter than a ferry safety announcement. Recounts will be conducted over pudding.

Overnight: La Palma.

Enjoy breakfast and a final wander if flight times allow, before departing from La Palma Airport.

Head home with new friends, unfamiliar grapes added to your vocabulary and firm evidence that the Canary Islands offer considerably more than a warm swimming pool.

Your suitcase may require two hands and a small motivational speech.

Small Groups. Big Pours. Surprisingly Extensive Ferry Knowledge.

Your Discovery Line-Up

Six wineries: two on Lanzarote, one on Gran Canaria, two on Tenerife and one on La Palma.

Two breweries: NAO on Lanzarote and TACOA on Tenerife.

One rum distillery: Arehucas on Gran Canaria.

Extra local flavour: Fuerteventura beer and Majorero cheese, a mojo-making workshop, Canarian food and four ferry crossings.