The mixed reviews of the Canaries and Lanzarote in particular are because in Britain, the Canaries have a reputation for very low budget, grotty package holidays. In fact Lanzarote is often called 'Lanza-grotty'.

The reputation has some basis as there is a lot of this. However, read up on it and find the out of the way places - deserted beaches, villages, etc. Check out Cesar Manrique. The volcanoes are spectacular.

The vineyards are very unusual and make for a nice visit but I have to say that every bottle of the local wine that I tried I came away disliking (and I'm no wine snob). I mean not even enjoyable with 'table wine' kind of expectations. I've been to plenty of places and happily drank the local wine even though it was mediocre or worse. Not sure why i didn't get on with Lanzarote wine.

I am currently on Lanzarote, sitting outside my bungalow in t-shirt at 11pm in December and already through half a bottle of El Grifo red. Due to the very labor-intense work in these vineyards you hardly find any „okay“ wines here for €5 or less as on the peninsula. The grapes are also quite different from your usual Rioja or Ribera del Duero so it can very well be that you don’t like it. But the local stores also have dozens of wines from the peninsula in stock, usually much cheaper than the local stuff.

I went through my photos but there's no sign with the rental name on the car. I'm sorry.
It doesn't hurt to ask one of the brokers such as Sunnycars or Auto Europe to find out for you which company allows you to take their car on the ferry.

We are wine producers ourselves and well aware that you have to pay for quality - especially from small family run wineries where just the barrels, corks and bottles are a huge cost in themselves, let alone selecting each grain by hand! We are really looking forward to seeing those vineyards and tasting the Malvasia!

Thank-you for that! I have sent an e mail to one company and will kep trying! If I findo one I will post it for future needs.

Car hire on Lanzarote (presumably similar on other Canaries) seems to be dominated by local type companies that specialise in very basic, cheap hire cars based on the fact that the needs of their market and most people don't do any serious drivings. I think that most people arrive and leave by airport transfer included in their package. Most will spend the majority of the time at their hotels which are mainly all inclusive and do a day or two of exploring on the island.

Car hire companies turn cars around quickly and you just show up with your licence and a credit card and in 5 minutes you're driving off in your roughed up Opel Corsa. You return it and someone cleans out the crisp wrappers and it's back on the street with another customer. I think many people hire a car for a day or two of their longer stay. Perhaps exaggerating here to make a point but I just don't understand paying to ferry a hire car around the islands.

I'm sure it could make sense in some ways but just seems unusual from my (limited) view of how things work there.

Thanks, it's good to know that it's a speedy process as I think we'll have to end up doing that. However I checked and it's only about 10 euros more to take the car on board the ferry. So for some parts of the trip it would be less of a hassle to hang on to it. I am thinking of Lanzarote to Fuerte. The main thing is not to have to queue for an hour each of the 8 times we will be picking up and dropping off!

I‘ve rented again from Cabrera Media, the local champion of the Canary Islands.
Unlike other rental car companies which „surprise“ with a insurances you should have on top of what you think you already have, they give one all-inclusive price like €100 a week, all in, no deductible.
It takes about 5 Minutes to pick up the car (assuming there is no line), and the vehicles are all new or very new and in good shape.
Gas costs „nothing“ on the Canaries (€1 per liter due to lower taxation) so it‘s really nothing one has to think about when calculating the budget.

Most Lanzarote wineries are located in the area of La Geria or La Asomada and usually have a restaurant / tapas bar attached.
The Malvasia or Listan Negro is usually sold at €10-15 per bottle. Not exactly what the €1 a pint crowd from Puerto del Carmen is willing to pay. I think it‘s worth the price, and it also comes in dry/white varieties. Still powerful since the grapes turn more or less into raisins under the African sun.