WSET 2 part 2 – Grenache

Fruit, think Grenache, think fruit. Growing in three grape colours, Noir, Gris and Blanc, the varieties are used in red, rosé and white wine production. It buds early, so can be prone to coulure http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Coulure,  ripening late, so needs areas with long growing seasons.

 
image courtesy of Josh McFadden  

Also known as Cannonau or Tocai Rosso on Corsica and Sardinia, it is more often seen as Garnacha, simply the Spanish spelling. It has a close relative Grenache Poilu or Velu, that is also called Lladoner Pelut or Garnacha Peluda depending which village you’re in.


Showing out in the prized rosés of Tavel, Lirac, Provence and Navarra, and the whites of the Roussillon, Grenache is AC named in many southern French sweeties. Single varietal Grenache red wines are generally fruit led. They can make reds with tannic elements if the vines are old and stressed, but it’s as the bearer of fruit flavours to blends that Grenache is most widely used.

As a vine it’s a tough fruit, resisting phylloxera in the nineteenth century, so making it much favoured when European vineyards were being replanted. The mostly bush grown vines can survive, even prosper, in dry, hot and dusty conditions. Until Shiraz took over in 1970s, it held the number one spot in red grape production in Australia. Unlike in many European territories where it had been removed, Grenache vine numbers have not diminished, Shiraz, Cabernet Sauvignon and Merlot have simply had more new plantings.

Origins
The kingdom of Aragón, Spain, spread Garnacha vines with the expansion of their realm until the mid seventeenth century.  East to Duero, south to Valencia, north into Roussillon and west to the Mediterranean islands. Curiously it was not planted in the Aragón region of Rioja (I know you’ve heard of it), until the twentieth century.

Territories
In Europe its northern most situation is the northern Rhône. Not permitted in the mix with Syrah in the top end ACs, it has a presence elsewhere. It is top banana though in the southern Rhône, I’ve already mentioned the rosés of Tavel and Lirac. The most famous red, Châteauneuf du Pape, is synonymous with Grenache, as are the surrounding blockbuster ACs. It is the lead grape, but generally has a supporting role from Syrah to add much valued tannin and substance, as well as a large cast featuring Carignan, Mouvédre, Cinsault and more, up to thirteen in some. There is so much down there it’ll have its own post. Neighbouring Provence and Languedoc Roussillon for whites, rosés and reds. Then over the border to north east Spain, where as Garnacha, it is a solo star of the Navarra rosados; for the past century adding fruit to the harder Temperanillo in Rioja; and as the headline grabber in the ever more popular Priorat blend.

In Australia it holds its volume, if not its poll position, where due to irrigation its flavours can become somewhat dilute. In California it has its place as ‘White Grenache’ rosé that I sense it blushes slightly from. Those ‘Rhône Rangers’ there  are thankful for that somewhat dubious patronage as it has allowed Grenache vines to mature in the Californian vineyards, where it may have been uprooted for more modish varieties.

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