Canary Islands 3D Wine Map: Volcanic Vineyards on Real Terrain

Tenerife, Lanzarote, Gran Canaria, La Palma, El Hierro, and La Gomera in full 3D volcanic terrain.

This interactive 3D map shows all 11 wine appellations of the Canary Islands on real volcanic terrain: the five DOs of Tenerife, plus Lanzarote, Gran Canaria, La Palma, La Gomera and El Hierro, and the islands-wide Islas Canarias DOP, drawn in 3D by SommGeo. Tilt and fly over the volcanoes, check elevation and slope, and click any appellation for its grapes and character. The interactive map is part of SommGeo membership, which starts with a free 15-day trial.

• Appellations on the map: 11, including the islands-wide Islas Canarias DOP
• Tenerife: Five DOs, with Abona’s vineyards climbing to around 1,700 meters, among the highest in Europe
• Phylloxera: Never reached the islands, so many vines are old and ungrafted
• Signature grapes: Listán Negro, Listán Blanco, Malvasía Volcánica and Negramoll
• Lanzarote: Vines planted in hollows (hoyos) dug through volcanic ash (picón) and sheltered by stone walls
• 3D tools: Tilt and rotate the terrain, elevation and slope readouts, daylight and shadow animation and a weather overlay

The Canary Islands are unlike any other wine region in Spain, or anywhere else. Seven volcanic islands sitting off the coast of North Africa, closer to the Sahara than to Madrid, producing wines from pre-phylloxera vines on ungrafted rootstock in some of the most extreme growing conditions on earth. Lanzarote’s lunar landscape of black volcanic ash, Tenerife’s vineyards climbing to over 1,500 meters (4,920 feet) on the slopes of Mount Teide, La Palma’s steep terraces carved into volcanic rock: these are landscapes that only make sense in 3D. This map covers the Canary Islands DOs with detailed popup data. Use the layer controls to filter by island and the elevation profile tool to measure the dramatic altitude ranges that define viticulture here.

What You’ll Explore

This 3D Fast Map covers the Denominaciones de Origen of the Canary Islands across all seven wine-producing islands. Click any mapped DO for detailed popup content covering grape varieties, classification details, and geographic specifics. Use the layer controls to filter by island grouping and the elevation profile tool to measure the extraordinary altitude ranges that make Canary Island viticulture unique.

• Canary Islands DOs mapped across all wine-producing islands
• Toggleable layers to control which island groupings are displayed
• Elevation profile tool for measuring the extreme altitude ranges of island vineyards
• Daylight and shadow animation to visualize aspect and sun exposure
• Detailed popup data for every mapped DO

Key Regions in Focus

Tenerife

Tenerife is the most important wine island in the Canaries and holds five DOs, more than any other island. Mount Teide, Spain’s highest peak at 3,718 meters (12,198 feet), dominates the terrain and creates a dizzying range of growing conditions. Vineyards in the northern DOs (Tacoronte-Acentejo, Valle de la Orotava, Ycoden-Daute-Isora) sit on the wetter, greener northern slopes at 200 to 800 meters (655 to 2,625 feet), while the southern and highland zones (Abona, Valle de Güímar) reach above 1,500 meters (4,920 feet), making them among the highest-altitude vineyards in Europe. Listán Negro and Listán Blanco (Palomino) are the dominant varieties, all ungrafted and phylloxera-free. The 3D terrain makes the scale of Teide and its influence on aspect, rainfall, and temperature gradients across the island immediately visible.

Lanzarote

Lanzarote is the most visually alien wine landscape in the world. The island was reshaped by volcanic eruptions in the 1730s, and vineyards grow in hand-dug hollows (hoyos) carved into black volcanic ash (picón), with low semicircular stone walls (zocos) built around each vine to protect it from the constant trade winds. There is virtually no rainfall, and the ash layer acts as a moisture trap, absorbing overnight dew and preventing evaporation. Malvasía Volcánica is the signature grape, producing whites with notable concentration and salinity. In 3D, the flat, dark, wind-scoured terrain of Lanzarote’s wine zone (DO Lanzarote) stands in stark contrast to the mountainous profiles of Tenerife and Gran Canaria.

La Palma, El Hierro, and Gran Canaria

The remaining islands each bring distinct character. La Palma’s vineyards cling to steep volcanic terraces, with some of the oldest pre-phylloxera vines in the Canaries. The Fuencaliente zone in the south, on recent lava flows, produces Malvasía with intense volcanic minerality. El Hierro, the smallest and most remote Canary wine island, grows Verijadiego and other indigenous varieties on steep slopes in tiny quantities. Gran Canaria, the second most populated island, is experiencing a wine revival with vineyards on the volcanic slopes and barrancos (ravines) that radiate from the central peak, reaching 1,000 meters (3,280 feet) or more. The elevation profile tool is particularly useful across these islands for understanding how quickly altitude changes on such compact, steep terrain.

Hopefully this index is useful on its own. To explore these regions interactively, with every boundary on real terrain and a full profile for each, start a 15-day free trial. To see what one of these maps is like first, a different map is unlocked for everyone every day.