Santa Cruz de Tenerife, the capital of Tenerife was our port of call in the Canary Islands, a Spanish archipelago off the coast of northwestern Africa. The Canary Islands is known for its rugged volcanic islands, with black and white sandy beaches. Tenerife, the largest island, is dominated by Mount Teide, an active volcano, which is part of Teide National Park. After exploring Tenerife's beautiful Teide National Park, and discovering some its volcanic history, we were introduced to Canary Islands wines. Hence, the next day, fortunately we had two days in port, it was necessary for us to check out Canary Islands wines in Santa Cruz.
Brian McClintic, Master Sommelier writing about Canary Island wines for Wine Folly noted:
The highest elevation vineyards in Europe reside on a small island. The perimeter of this island houses small, sea level beach towns. In the middle of the island lives a 12,200 foot volcano. It takes an hour to drive from one end to the other, but from village to village, it seems as though you’ve gone to the moon and back. Jungles, deserts, tropical beaches, and mountains…it’s like every ecosystem became an expat and moved here. By rule, Spanish. By influence, Portuguese. By geography, a stone’s throw from Africa. Brian McClintic, Master Sommelier
So after a little research on Canary Island wines off I went to taste some local wines in Santa Cruz at Guannabí Restaurante. Once introduced to wine events and stops during cruises it has become a priority for this #winelover. This post will feature local wines we encountered our last day in port. We managed to be in Santa Cruz during lunch time, and so it was a perfect time to try some.
Exploring Canary Island Wines at Guannabí Restaurante
We choose three plates from the lunch menu at Guannabí Restaurante to accompany two local wines produced with Listán Negro and Listán Blanco grapes.
Let me introduce the wines and food plates.
Wine #1: White Wine : Altos de Trevejos, Bambú Blanco, D.O. Abona (Listán Blanco, Albillo, Verdello)
The wines we paired with three plates. We began with a plate of local cheeses.
Food: Papas Arrugadas
Papas Arrugadas, Guannabí Restaurante © Spaswinefood
Papas Arrugadas (Wrinkled Potatoes) is prepared with small new potatoes boiled in salt water that evaporates, leaving the potatoes with a thin layer of salt and wrinkled potato skins. The dish hails from the Canary Islands, where the potatoes are served with a sauce called mojo, such as mojo verde, and mojo rojo.
Plate : Papas Panaderas
Our plate of Papas Panaderas was served with poached eggs, cheese and sauce.
We enjoyed our wine and food pairing lunch. So glad we order the potato dishes and local cheeses. This was an excellent kick-off for tasting Tenerife wines. When we tasted the wines alone we were not excited however, when paired with local foods we liked them. Vivino gives the two wines we tasted fair reviews.
Wine List, Guannabí Restaurante © Spaswinefood
Enjoying Local Wines, Guannabí Restaurante © Spaswinefood
On a personal note, I loved being introduced to local wines. I loved the opportunity to taste these two Tenerife wines.
The Guannabí Restaurante was a great option for us to explore local wines and cuisine.
I suspect to taste the wines with local cuisine was the very best option.
While typically my wine country travels takes me to wine regions around the world it was fun to have this wine adventure during our port of call on this TransAtlantic repositioning cruise. This on land wine adventure certainly added excitement to those sea days, which are numerous on a repositioning cruise. I was first introduced to exploring wine tasting opportunities while cruising last April when we took a repositioning cruise from Sydney to San Francisco.
Cruising the Pacific: Wine and Food © Spaswinefood
I invite you to join me in my wine adventures while cruising the Atlantic Ocean, or traveling elsewhere at Wine Travels with Dr. Sharon, and at Spaswinefood on Bluesky and Facebook. I am so looking forward to sharing more on my vine-filled explorations.
CHEERS!
Sharon
March 2025
Santa Cruz de Tenerife
Fort Lauderdale to Barcelona Cruise
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