La Geria: Vines Grown in Volcanic Ash
Canary Islands, Spain
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La Geria
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250
XP
+100 Spain
= 350 total
1 day
La Geria: Vines Grown in Volcanic Ash
250 + 100 XP
Lanzarote has almost no rain and constant wind, and after 1730 it had a thick layer of lapilli — volcanic gravel the islanders call rofe or picón — lying over the old soil. What they worked out is that if you dig a conical pit down through the lapilli to the soil, plant a vine at the bottom and build a low dry-stone crescent on the windward side, the lapilli collects dew and passes it down to the root while the wall takes the wind off. Each pit is a geria. There are thousands of them, one vine each, and the grape is mostly Malvasía.
Required Activities
1
of 5
Stand at the edge of the vineyard and count the pits — one vine to each, thousands of them across the lava field
2
of 5
Work out the engineering: lapilli that traps dew, a cone that funnels it to the root, a dry-stone wall that stops the wind
3
of 5
Taste Malvasía volcánica and work out how a wine grown in ash with no irrigation tastes of it
4
of 5
Find out what the islanders call the gravel — rofe, or picón — and where it came from in 1730
5
of 5
Do a bodega visit and ask how the harvest is done, since no machine can get near any of this
Stand at the edge of the vineyard and count the pits — one vine to each, thousands of them across the lava field
Work out the engineering: lapilli that traps dew, a cone that funnels it to the root, a dry-stone wall that stops the wind
Taste Malvasía volcánica and work out how a wine grown in ash with no irrigation tastes of it
Find out what the islanders call the gravel — rofe, or picón — and where it came from in 1730
Do a bodega visit and ask how the harvest is done, since no machine can get near any of this
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Challenge Location
XP Breakdown
Challenge XP
250 XP
Spain country bonus
+100 XP
Potential total
350 XP
Country bonus earned on completion of your first challenge in Spain.
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