The Government of the Canary Islands has taken a new step in the preservation and enhancement of its wine-growing heritage with the application for registration in the Register of Commercial Varieties (RVC) of four minority vine varieties recovered in the archipelago. These are Albillo Monte Lentiscal, Verdello de El Hierro, Verijadiego and Vitoriera, whose registration process has begun after the clean-up work carried out by the Canary Islands Institute of Agricultural Research (ICIA).
This action will enable these varieties to be made available to the wine sector and used in wine labelling, thus reinforcing the differentiation and uniqueness of Canary Island wines.
A key varietal heritage for the future of Canary Island wine
During the Agriculture Committee held in the Canary Islands Parliament, the Minister of Agriculture, Livestock, Fisheries and Food Sovereignty, Narvay Quintero, stressed the importance of this initiative to ensure the conservation of the archipelago’s varietal heritage. According to him, the promotion of these varieties contributes to maintaining the unique characteristics of Canary Island wines, while favouring the development of crops that are more resilient to the effects of climate change, desertification and disease.
Quintero recalled that the genetic diversity of the vine in the Canary Islands is one of the main differential values of the island’s wine sector and a strategic element for its long-term sustainability.
Results of the project for the recovery of minority varieties
The application for registration of these four varieties is part of the project “Recovery of the biodiversity of the genus Vitis by rescuing minority varieties capable of differentiating Canarian wines”, developed by the ICIA since 2023. Within the framework of this initiative, 22 varieties have been selected according to their risk of extinction and their agronomic and oenological characteristics.
These varieties are being subjected to sanitation treatments by means of in vitro cultivation, with the aim of obtaining healthy, homogeneous and quality plant material, suitable for future multiplication and use by the production sector.
At the same time, in 2024, Bastardo negro and Baboso negro, which until now had been listed together, were registered separately, thus reinforcing varietal precision within the official register.
Coordination with the sector and strengthening of plant health
In addition to this work by the ICIA, the Regional Ministry’s Plant Health Service is currently carrying out sanitation processes for different vine varieties selected by the Canary Island Regulatory Councils. These varieties will be progressively incorporated into the commercial register and will be available for use in vineyards.
In October, the Advisory Council for Agricultural Research also approved the modification of the vine research project being carried out by the ICIA, under the title “Strengthening Canary Island Viticulture: Sanitation, Phylloxera Resistant Rootstocks and Variety Conservation”.
Research, biosafety and genetic conservation
This line of research is divided into three main blocks: the multiplication of healthy clones of minority varieties, the study of Canary Island varieties grafted onto phylloxera-resistant rootstocks, and the conservation of the viticultural germplasm of the ICIA collection, made up of 32 varieties, most of them minority varieties and some exclusive to very specific areas of the archipelago.
The ultimate objective is to preserve the genetic material of the vineyard against health and climatic threats, always guaranteeing the biosecurity conditions of the sanitised plant material.
In this context, the ICIA is building two greenhouses at Finca Isamar, in Valle Guerra, which will be used to maintain fields of mother plants of the cleaned-up varieties. In addition, work is being carried out to prepare the soil and evaluate indicators of soil health and environmental biodiversity in the plots destined to house this plant material.
With these actions, the Canary Islands are strengthening their commitment to a viticulture based on biodiversity, research and territorial differentiation, consolidating the foundations for the future of Canary Islands wine.
