Wines News & People
Grenache/Garnacha
Wine Style:
This is a sweet grape which is rich in alcohol, fruity, spicy, medium-bodied wine and often blended with other grapes.
Flavors:
Origin:
France
Found:
Rhone in France, Spain, and Australia
This is a strong grape which withstands extreme heat and warm climate well. It has a thin skin, little pigment and ripens slowly with a high level of sugar content. It is also made for Rose, and has a very fruity, almost sweet taste.
In the Southern Rhone it provides the backbone for most red blends and is the key component of Châteauneuf du Pape. Some Châteauneufs such as Chateau Rayas and the likes of Domaine de la Janasse are even made from 100% Grenache. In the Languedoc, this grape also plays a key role in many blends and is responsible for much of the Rosé wine from Southern France.
It is the most extensively grown grape in Spain where it is known as Garnacha Tinta – in Rioja it is blended with Tempranillo and is most widely planted in the warm Eastern Rioja Baja region. The very best Garnacha wines come from Priorato in Catalonia, where fruit from old Garnacha bush vines is blended with small quantities of Cabernet Sauvignon to produce wines of startling intensity and depth of fruit for mid to longer term cellaring and drinking.
Grenache was once Australia`s most widely planted black grape but much of it was grubbed up in the 70s and early 80s to make room for more fashionable grapes. However plantings have been on the increase since the early 1990s and the best examples are found in the Barossa Valley from dry-farmed, bush-pruned, old Grenache vines.
Further Reading:
Wikipedia
Cellar Notes
Wine Pros
Appellation America
Dallas Secret Wine
WineMaker
Wise Geek
Terroir France