Ycoden-Daute-Isora

Appears in
Oxford Companion to Wine

By Jancis Robinson

Published 2006

  • About

Ycoden-Daute-Isora, complicated name from the Guanche pre-Hispanic times, for the most ancient, but recently denominated, wine region in the Spanish canary islands. It is centred on the town of Icod de los Vinos, where wine has been made since the Spanish conquest in the 15th century. It now produces some of the best dry whites in the islands, from listán Blanco (palomino) and, increasingly, from the much more distinctive vijariego and marmajuelo grapes. The region has 1,350 ha/3,300 acres under vines. In the 1990s, coastal vineyards were consistently uprooted and replaced by inland vineyards at much higher elevations on the verdant volcanic slopes.