The University of La Laguna and the DOP of Lanzarote sign an agreement to strengthen agro-enotourism

The rector of the University of La Laguna, Francisco J. García Rodríguez, and the president of the Regulatory Council of the Protected Designation of Origin of Lanzarote Wines, Jorge Rodríguez Alonso, signed this past Friday a general collaboration protocol to launch joint activities in the field of training, research, dissemination, and cultural development.

The document formalizes a collaboration that was already taking place thanks to the work of the Chair of Agrotourism and Wine Tourism of the Canary Islands of the Canarian Institute of Agri-food Quality of the University of La Laguna, whose director, Jesús de las Heras Roger, and general coordinator, Gabriel Santos García, were also present at the event, along with the vice-rector for Culture and University Extension, Isabel Karely León Pérez. 

Collaboration agreements with half of the Canarian wine-producing DOPs

With this signing, the university already maintains collaboration agreements with approximately half of the wine-producing DOPs of the Canarian archipelago, a fact that served the rector to praise the regional penetration capacity of the chair, which maintains intense activity throughout the year covering the entire archipelago. García reflected that the chair and the Canarian wine tourism sector itself have been developing in parallel.

This was confirmed by the president of the Lanzarote DOP, who recalled how a decade ago there was hardly any tourist activity linked to the world of wine, and currently it is a booming sector. He also referred to his time at the university as an Agricultural Engineering student and, also, as a student of the first edition of the specialist course in Wine Tourism Management and Sensory Analysis of Wines that the chair launched when it was still a university cultural classroom. 

Close relationship

The chair and the Lanzarote DOP already maintained a close common trajectory. To cite some actions, in 2022 and 2025 advanced-level wine sensory analysis courses were held on the island. In 2022, a Tasting Room was organized that brought together wineries from Lanzarote and other parts of the archipelago and, that same year, a technical trip to the designation of origin was coordinated for the students of the Specialist Course, in addition to the development of the workshop "Lanzarote: Approach to the technification of the wine sector of the Canary Islands".

Also noteworthy are the 2023 and 2024 editions of the “International Technical Conferences on Sustainable Viticulture” promoted by the Chair in coordination with Bodegas El Grifo, within which in 2023 the Award for Sustainable Viticulture was granted to the Consejo Regulador de la DOP Lanzarote.

The island has also had a prominent presence in the Enogastrotourism Awards of the Universidad de La Laguna: in 2019, its Regulatory Council was recognized with an honorable mention on the occasion of the 25th anniversary of its founding; in 2022, Bodegas El Grifo was recognized in the Business Initiative category and, a year later, the Sonidos Líquidos festival won the award in the Promotion Action category.