The Herreño wine-growing area is made up of small farms, worked directly by their owners. The gulf has historically been the main wine-growing area on the island, producing more than 80% of the island's wines.

These farms, in general, are developed on terraces, and conserve the traditional cultivation system, with vines on rakes and irregular distances between vines; only the new or converted farms offer more modern cultivation systems.

In recent years, the area under vines in the valley has been reduced; the high production costs, the fall in the price of the product for the farmer and the drop in consumption are the main causes that have led winegrowers to abandon their holdings.

Vineyards are found in the lower, middle and upper parts of the valley, both on poor soils covered with volcanic ash (jable) and on richer, wetter soils. Herreño farmers knew how to combine the soil and microclimatic conditions of each area with varietal diversity in order to achieve the highest possible yield in each place.

Currently, the average production on the island in a normal year is around 250,000 litres, a far cry from the quantities that were produced in the past, such as the 1,293,000 litres produced in 1833.