Island wines: Gaining attention

By Sarah Jane Evans MW

Published: 13 August, 2026

What do Hokkaido, Essex, Pico, Gorgona and Tinos have in common? That’s right – they are all islands that produce wine. But Essex? Yes, it earns its place here too. Just why, I’ll explain further down. The fact is, island wines have become a thing just as Matt Damon’s epic return to Ithaca in Christopher Nolan’s The Odyssey has got us all thinking about Greek islands. Greece, of course, epitomises island wines (though I would not put Odysseus’s Ithaca quite at the top of the list).

When I became an MW back in 2006, I discovered private clients expected me to host tastings of the classics, obviously feeling that’s what MWs ‘did’. Thankfully that narrow focus has changed. First came requests for volcanic wines – that’s to say those from grapes grown on volcanic soils. That category was driven by the publication of Volcanic Wines by John Szabo MS. It defined the topic and brought together wines that crossed political and geographical boundaries. Terroir started to break out of its elite straitjacket as soil types appeared on back labels and in conversation. Then came calls for tastings of rare varieties (hello Armenia), artisanal winemaking and wines with stories. The latest theme is Island Wines, a broad, sweeping collective which can be full of interest.

One unifying factor of course is the sea. We talk freely of saline characters even when there’s no sea close by – for example, fine Rieslings from Germany. Elsewhere, track down Antonio Maçanita’s Azores Wine Company. Made in its mid-Atlantic isolation, his Vinha dos Utras is a model island wine. It’s as if he has bottled the salty tang of the sea. That might sound unappetising, but don’t mistake me – it’s delicious.

Isolation means islands can become treasured guardians of rare grape varieties, and they may be phylloxera free. This was until recently the case with Tenerife, though recent discovery of phylloxera in an abandoned vineyard was a red alert. Still, Jonatán García Lima of Suertes del Marqués believes it can be contained. But if islands are museums it can mean many prefer to migrate to the bright lights and employment of the mainland. Lack of labour is an issue, as is the fight against encroaching tourism.

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Prison project

There’s one island where isolation is guarded by prison officers – the volcanic outcrop of Gorgona. An hour or so by boat from Livorno on Tuscany’s west coast, Gorgona is Europe’s last island penal colony, the final placement for long-term prisoners before release. Here Frescobaldi’s project with the Italian state sees vineyards worked by prisoners who are paid, enabling them to build new lives with financial security. Their Bianco (Costa Toscana IGT) from Vermentino and Ansonica has a luscious exotic fruit character with what I can only call an island freshness.

Many of these islands are volcanic in origin, and a number have developed distinct vine training techniques. Santorini, Tenerife, Lanzarote, the Azores, Pantelleria: all had to find solutions, and slightly different ones, to retaining water and protecting the vines from the sea winds. Volcanic island wines have garnered attention: there is something particularly glamorous about them, exemplified perhaps by Frank Cornelissen’s Etna wines.

Surely it’s not too effusive to say that what unites these island wines is an air of mystery and romance. That’s why the idea of Hokkaido and Pinot Noir resonates. Pinot Noir is the grape with ethereal beauty and Hokkaido is the most northerly island of Japan, a country known for its elegance and finesse. It seems only natural that a Burgundian producer (De Montille) should appear here.

Head sommelier at the Pic Group, Paz Levinson, underlines the value of such magical images when she notes how difficult it is to introduce Spanish wine to the French market – until it comes to the Canary Islands, whose wines bring romance, a sense of something slightly exotic, an allure to wine list.

Don’t laugh, but that’s what Essex can do too, from the slightly larger island of the UK mainland. I’m thinking of Dermot Sugrue’s Crouch Valley Pinot. It was among the wines selected by Josep ‘Pitu’ Roca, renowned sommelier of El Celler de Can Roca, for his keynote tasting at the Island Wine Summit in Tenerife, organised by ICEX-Foods and Wines from Spain. I’m known for being pro-Spain I admit, but it was great to see that country leading with an international conference, with international guests discussing international island wines.

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