Wine tasting, Lanzarote style!

Whenever I go on holiday, I try and fit in a trip to a vineyard for a spot of wine tasting. It gives you an introduction to the types of wines the region produces, gives you the opportunity to buy local wines straight from the producer and, frankly, is a great excuse to get tipsy!

So on my recent trip to Lanzarote, I was keen to go to one of vineyards on the 2,000 hectares of land cultivated for wine growing. However, it transpired that my hotel was around 20 kilometres from the nearest vineyard and my brother kind of put me off going.

An example of a Vineyard in Lanzarote

I think I've mentioned my brother, Bordeauxboy, on here before. He is basically the biggest wine snob I've ever met. He is the sort of person for whom you spend ages choosing wine, which just goes straight in the rack! He has an advanced WSET Qualification though, so I trust his opinion. So when he said it was too warm for decent wine in Lanzarote, I figured he was probably right. Considering that Lanzarote has around 100 mm of rainfall annually, it is amazing that anything grows there at all.

However, I was delighted when we managed to book a tour to the Timanfaya National Park in Lanzarote that included a trip to one of the vineyards. It meant I got to visit a vineyard without too much hassle or making a specific journey. 

On the tour, I learned that the wine grows, thanks to the unique way they cultivate their vines. Each plant is grown in a hole that is about a meter deep and wide and surrounded by a small protective wall called a Zocos. The pit protects the plant from the constant winds that blow across the island and helps create humidity around the plant, meaning it receives enough water to grow.

Barrels outside the Bodega Barreto in Lanzarote

So the vineyards are really striking to look at. Bright, green plants growing out of the black grains of lava. For the sight alone, I would urge you to take a look at the vineyards. However, the wine tasting experience I had was pretty disappointing.

The tour took us to the Bodega Barreto and we were told we would be trying two types of wine. Apparently this family run business has been producing wine for over 100 years and several of their wines have won prizes. Most of their wines are produced from the Malvasia grape, which I had never tried before and which grows very well on the island.

The Malvasia at Bodega Barreto, Lanzarote

However, when I say "trying" I mean we were literally given a thimble full. How can you get a taste for the wine when you have barely a mouthful? And I'm never going to be drunk enough to buy a case of wine based on a small dribble.

We tasted the Masdache Malvasia Seco and the Masdache Moscatel. There was also a Masdache Tinto and another couple of wines that we were not permitted to taste. The Malvasia Seco was not that dry and had quite a strong taste of vinegar, whilst the Moscatel had a nice taste, but was slightly grainy. Needless to say, I didn't buy any and I didn't see anyone make a purchase, even though they were quite reasonably priced.

I feel a bit guilty about this review, as probably, if I had gone to the winery directly as an individual, I would have got a different experience. But on this particular tour, it really wasn't great.

Enjoying a glass of El Grifo wine in Teguise, Lanzarote

I'd pretty much given up on Lanzarote wine after that experience. But we then went for lunch in Teguise to this lovely little place called Bodega de Santa Barbara. We sat in the sun trapped courtyard, served by handsome Italians and had a platter of sausage and goats cheese whilst sipping on a delicious dry, white wine. 

When I asked the waiter what it was, I was expecting it to be Italian. However, it was a local wine called El Grifo and it was the Colleccion Malvasia variety, which the waiter assured us was the best. It had an almost green, pale colour and a very dry, floral taste. Absolutely delicious!

So, if I went to Lanzarote again, I would definitely visit a vineyard. However, I wouldn't do it as part of a tour (you don't get enough wine!) and I would pay a visit to the El Grifo winery.   

A Classier Canary

I was pretty snobbish about Lanzarote before I went. I kind of imagined a scene from Benidorm with Brits throwing up on street corners, party games by the pool side, promoters dragging you into bars to drink from fish bowls and restaurants with pictures of full English fry ups outside. Yes I have been to Magaluf!

However, Costa Teguise in Lanzarote was nothing like that. In fact, I was pretty impressed.

Accommodation

Overall the resort, compared to some of the huge Spanish mega builds, is pretty attractive. There are a few ugly 70s and 80s style block hotels, but in the main there are lots of pretty, white buildings interspersed with the black, lava gardens for which the island is renowned. We stayed at the HPB Santa Rosa hotel, which is on the South West of the resort, very near to the Playa Bastian Beach. It's a great hotel. No animation teams organising club 18-30 type games, no loud music and nice and peaceful at night (yes, I am pretty middle aged!)

The view from Hennessey's Bar, by Playa Cucharas

Restaurants

The Santa Rosa hotel has lots of bars and clubs nearby. But for me, the nicest bars and restaurants are over to the South East of the resort, just up from Playa Cucharas. 

If you like Tapas, I would really recommend El Bocadito which has an amazing selection, although you might want to bring your Spanish dictionary otherwise ordering can be guesswork! We had a delicious bottle of wine at this restaurant too, Emilio Moro 2008, which I would heartily recommend. The 2007 version is available from Majestic in the UK. Portabello is great for Italian food and if you like nutty, Italian waitresses! If you want to eat by the sea front, El Maestro and La Pesquera share the same owner, and have a lovely chilled out vibe, with cool Spanish music. I had paella and sangria for just 7 Euro. 

Enjoying a cocktail at the Captain Hook Bar, yes, they do come with sparklers!

Nightlife

This isn't the sort of place you'd go for a stag weekend or to dance the night away. Overall, its pretty quiet, principally populated by families and couples. There are lots of bars with fairly naff pub style singers, crooning along to a Casio or a laid down track, and the odd karaoke night. 

For me, by far the nicest cluster of bars is around the Pueblo Marinero area. Built by Cesar Manrique (people are pretty obsessed with him in Lanzarote), the area is a cluster of typical canary style buildings, all white, simple and archy, and designed to look like a Canarian Fishing village (even though it is nowhere near the sea!). We had a drink at the Captain Hook bar, where you can get lots of nice cocktails and they give you a blanket if you get too cold! They have music playing most nights, and the first time we went, we enjoyed lovely live Spanish Guitar music.  

There are also some nice bars down by the Playa Cucharas. We had a very OTT cocktail at Robinson's Bar, and also Hennessey's is nice for a more traditional pint. Both have spectacular views out to sea, but can be a bit windy!

Beaches

El Jablillio beach

Costa Teguise has five beaches. Probably the nicest one is the Playa Jablillo beach which is a small, horse shoe shaped beach with beautiful turquoise water that's perfect for swimming in. It's a bit more sheltered from the wind too, which seems to constantly blow in Lanzarote. Playa Cucharas is a larger strip of white sand that has more bars and restaurants nearby, it also has a public toilet (but no loo roll!). You'll also be able to watch lots of hot windsurfers charging through the waves! 

It's free to lie on the sand, but to hire two sunbeds and an umbrella costs 10 Euro.

Getting there

The main Lanzarote airport is about a 20 minutes drive away and is called Arrecife airport. By far the highlight of the airport is that you can sit outside at the Carling pub, enjoy the sunshine with a glass of wine and watch the planes land. All airports should have an outside terrace, the perfect way to end a holiday!

Nearby

Most of the hotels organise day trips, you can also hire a car or book something through the many Last Minute Travel stores in Costa Teguise. There's lots to do and the costs can vary from a few Euro to around 100 Euro depending on the scale of the trip.

Timanfaya National Park, it's beautiful

I'd recommend a visit to the Timanfaya National Park, where you can see the bizarre looking lava fields and volcanoes. If you love a glass of wine, it's worth going to look at one of the wineries purely because of the unique way they grow their vines. 

Finally, the Sunday market in Teguise is pretty good for a visit. Alongside the usual fake Fendi Bags and belts are artisan foods and wines, and local arts and crafts. Teguise is also a really attractive little town, and quite different to the beach side holiday resorts. If you do stop for lunch in Teguise, I'd recommend Bodega de Santa Barbara as they have a sheltered sunny terrace, where we enjoyed a platter of salami and goats cheese, accompanied by a super cold glass of El Grifo Malvasia Colleccion white wine.

A vineyard in Lanzarote!

Downsides

Nowhere is perfect, and there are some downsides to Costa Teguise. The main one is the fact that you can't lie on the beach without getting hassled. Whether from the man selling the sunglasses (and other illegal substances!), the people offering massages or those wanting to braid you hair, it is really irritating and incessant. You get it the most in La Cucharas beach from my experience. 

It's also impossible to get a decent breakfast there, unless you buy it from a supermarket. I love a Spanish style breakfast with meats, cheeses and fresh fruit, or a lovely piece of crusty bread topped with ripe tomatoes. When I went to Ibiza, I found somewhere that did fruit kebabs and champagne for breakfast, which was amazing. However, this is impossible to find. You have a choice of Full English Breakfast, Vegetarian English Breakfast or Superior English Breakfast!

I'd love to hear if you've visited the resort, and what your favourite parts were. Thanks for taking the time to read my blog.

It's HPB darling....

I've just come back from a week's holiday in Lanzarote, staying at the HPB Santa Rosa resort, and I thought I would share with you my experience of travelling HPB style. 

Until a few years ago, I'd never heard of a Holiday Property Bond. I'm not a financial expert, and I am not FSA regulated, but this is how it works as I understand it.

You basically invest in a life assurance bond with HPB and this gives you a financial interest in a portfolio of villas, cottages and apartments across Europe. Your investment gives you a certain number of points a year (depending on how much you invest), meaning you can go on holiday as many times a year as you like, until your points run out.

The next year, you get your points back, and you can start holidaying all over again. Some properties cost more points than others, and certain times of the year cost more points than others. But if you invest a good amount of money in your bond initially, and you are clever with when and where you go, you can enjoy lovely holidays a couple of times a year. And, if you want to take your money out, you can, and if you die, the money is gifted to your relatives (jolly!).

The view from our balcony at Santa Rosa in Lanzarote. The HPB terrace is in the foreground.

So, with HPB, you get an alternative to a fixed timeshare. Instead of going to the same place, year on year, you can go to a range of places with a range of accommodation types. In fact, they apparently have over 1,000 properties! The only costs, after your initial investment, are your flights, a small maintenance charge and of course your drinking money! 

And, although it means that you get a fairly cheap holiday, the accommodation certainly is not cheap. To date, I've only been to two and I've been impressed with both.

Before we went to Lanzarote, we looked at the reviews on Trip Advisor of the Santa Rosa resort. Quite a few of them mentioned that the HPB apartment and pool were much nicer than the non HPB accommodation which is situated on the same site. So much so that the phrase of the holiday became "it's not HPB darling" to describe a second rate experience or person.

One of the beaches in Costa Teguise, Lanzarote, a few minutes walk from the HPB site

Our poolside area could not be accessed by the not "HPB darling" people, which made us feel most superior! On the first day, there was a Paella cookery demonstration and we all had Paella and sangria by the pool whilst sneering at the "other" people over the fence! And every now and then, we would pop over to their side, just because we could!

When I booked the room, I was told how many steps there were to my front door, the size of my balcony and also whether I had twin or a double bed. The self catering apartments had every single utensil you could possibly require - more than in my house! There was even a wine cooler, for my El Grifo Malvasia Colleccion wine that I drank while in Lanzarote. Amazing attention to detail, and very HPB.

Oh, and did I mention about the free wifi?

The HPB St Brides property with its sweeping driveway

I've also been to a property near St Davids in Wales called HPB St Brides. We went for a family Christmas and it was lovely to stay in 99 acres of parkland, by a castle which you reached via a long, sweeping driveway, flanked with spectacular views of the sea.

As you can see, I'm a bit of a fan! I've just booked Turunc in Turkey for October, which also looks lovely so I'll let you know how I get on.

Please note. I do not work for HPB and I am not FSA regulated. Therefore, if you are interested to invest in HPB, I would suggest you visit their website or ring them to talk it all through, as I am sure there are a range of exclusions such as minimum investment etc they would have to go through with you: http://www.hpb.co.uk/howitworks/