7 minute read
You Already Love Grenache
By Sylvia Jansen, DipWSET, CSW, Sommelier
It is the bass player in a wine symphony, giving warm, deep tones to a special occasion wine. It can make a dinner special with its smoothness, body, and enticing perfume. It is a generous everyday sipper, and it lends itself well to a host of rosé wines. This is Grenache, possibly the most overlooked and important grape variety in the wine world.
In France, plantings of Grenache are second only to Merlot. It surpasses even the famous Syrah and Cabernet Sauvignon. Its ancestral homeland is Spain, where it is also among the most planted. Additionally, the grape variety makes red wines in Italy (especially Sardinia), as well as Australia, the United States, and South Africa. However, because these wine labels often show appellation (place) names, Grenache’s leading role remains obscured. Regional wines like Côtes du Rhône, Rioja, and village appellations like Lirac and Châteauneuf-du-Pape all depend on Grenache, but the main variety—Grenache—is not listed on the front and often not on the back label either.
This important variety lives in the twilight, largely due to its best quality. Grenache is a beautiful blending partner. It is hidden in plain sight in southern France blends, planted in Roussillon, through Languedoc, the southern Rhône and into Provence. In Spain, it is common in northern Catalonia, through Navarra, Rioja, and farther south. However, because these wine labels often show appellation names—and not the grape name—Grenache’s leading role remains obscured.
Winemakers who work with Grenache have an infectious enthusiasm, respect, and love for it. Jason Haas of California’s Tablas Creek Vineyard points out, “Grenache is lovely on its own (thank you, Pinot Noir, for convincing people that wines can be worthwhile and full of flavour without being inky), but it is also a beautiful complement to deeper, more tannic grapes like Syrah and Mourvèdre. And it is the world’s best rosé grape!”
A multitude of rosé wines from France and Spain owe their style to Grenache as their main player. Tavel from the Rhône makes arguably among the finest, most structured examples, while many other Grenache-based rosés can be pale and easy, perfect for the summer patio.
And Grenache is adaptable! Some experts claim that it might be the most likely candidate to survive, perhaps even thrive, in an era of climate change. The Grenache vine is a heatlover, requiring a long season to ripen fully. It grows best in regions where the ground is dry and stony, summers are hot, and drought can be a hazard, making the scrubby lands of its Mediterranean homes particularly good for Grenache to thrive. Grenache grapes are also rather thin-skinned with lower tannin levels, giving character and lushness at the same time. When ripe, sugar levels are high, and because sugars are fermented to alcohol, Grenache wines can be full bodied and dry with very high alcohol, giving weight and full body. Its acidity tends to the soft side, and flavours are typically driven by red fruit and layered with spice.
The age and the care of the vineyard determine the differences between everyday and ultra-premium Grenache. Marta Rovira Carbonell, winemaker and principal of Mas d’en Gil in Priorat, Spain, explains that young vines can be productive with good fruit and floral notes if the vineyard has been well tended. Old-vine Grenache, on the other hand, gives a very different picture. “So long as the old vines are well cared for,” says Marta, “the fruit becomes more concentrated because yields reduce as vines age.”
In the winery, red Grenache can be unoaked to show fruit, spice, everyday enjoyment, and an ordinary price tag. Its red skins can see measured contact with the juice to produce a pale (or deeper) rosé. Old-vine Grenache can benefit from oak ageing to achieve an enticing mellowness, additional layered complexity, and depth.
In short, Grenache gives us many wines, many places, and many occasions—you need only look for it! While it may be hidden, it always shows up to play.
A Grape By Any Other Name
You might be drinking Grenache and not even know it! The grape’s ubiquity across the world’s wine regions means that it has many synonyms. Watch for these grape names to spot Grenache in different regions:
France, Australia, and the United States: Grenache
Spain: Garnacha, Alicante, Aragones, Garnatxa
Italy: Cannonau (Sardinia), Tai Rosso, Tocai Rosso (and many more…)
Hidden in Plain Sight
A good blend is better than the sum of its parts. Grenache blends generous fruit, spice notes, nice power, mouthfeel, and weight with soft edges and layers of red fruit and spice. The grape has its own history and character in each of the regions in which it is grown.
Châteauneuf-du-Pape, France: Taking its name from “Pope’s new castle” from a time when the papal court was moved to Avignon in the 14th century, Châteauneuf-du-Pape is an important region in France’s southern Rhône Valley. The wines of Châteauneuf-du-Pape owe much of their character to old-vine Grenache. Châteauneuf-du-Pape wines can be white, red, or even rosé, but most are red. There are 13 permitted varieties, and where blends are used, Grenache is most often the dominant. It can also be the sole player.
Priorat, Spain: This is a small Spanish region with a big reputation. Located inland and southwest of Barcelona, its stony soils, summer heat, and small yields lead to powerful, concentrated red wines (and a few whites) that owe their pedigree to old-vine Grenache. “Grenache is our main player,” says Marta Rivera-Carbonnel of Mas d’en Gil.
Rioja, Spain: This Spanish region is best known for the iconic Tempranillo, but Garnacha is an important partner alongside other varieties in Rioja blends (including Graciano and Mazuelo). Garnacha has not always been highly regarded, but with older vines and careful tending, there are many winemakers who would not blend a Rioja red without it.
California, USA: The last decades of the 20th century saw a group of producers change California’s wine landscape to include Grenache in the mix. Tablas Creek of Paso Robles was among those recognizing the similarity between the warm, dry, stony soils of Paso Robles and those of Châteauneuf-du-Pape. They set about to bring quality vine cuttings to their vineyards and nurtured what became known as the “Rhône Rangers” movement—California producers who embraced Grenache, Syrah, and Mourvèdre, among other Rhône varieties.
South Australia: Grenache was first planted in South Australia in the mid-1800s when its drought tolerance was critical. It was first used in fortified wines, but as wine fashions changed, it was pulled in favour of other varieties. Today, we see two main styles of Grenache: concentrated wines from surviving small patches of old vines and the “G” in GSM—the Australian take on Rhône red blends of Grenache, Syrah, and Mourvèdre.
South Africa: The Grenache in South Africa was first used in anonymous bulk blends and fortified wines. Its quality potential is evident from a few producers who are guarding tiny parcels of precious old vines. Adi Badenhorst of Swartland holds the oldest known South African vineyard of Grenache vines, the gnarled bush-vine Raaigras vineyard.
White Grenache
Grenache has several variants, in several hues, but Grenache Blanc (as it is known in France) or Garnacha Blanca (in Spain) is the most common. This light-skinned version shares full-bodied and richly perfumed characteristics with its red twin.
The Peak
Saxum 2020 GSM James Berry Vineyard, Paso Robles, California ($395.99)
Tablas Creek 2019 Rouge Esprit de Tablas Paso Robles, California ($99.99)
Alain Jaume 2020 Le Miocène Châteauneuf-du-Pape, France ($86.99)
Special Occasion
Noon Winery 2018 Eclipse Grenache/ Shiraz McLaren Vale, Australia ($89.99)
A.A. Badenhorst 2020 Raaigras Grenache, Swartland, South Africa ($73.99)
Mas d’en Gil 2014 Coma Vella Priorat, Spain ($55.99)
A Little Treat
David Moreno 2016 Reserva Rioja, Spain ($29.99)
Domaine Lafond 2022 Roc-Épine Tavel Rosé Rhône, France ($29.99)
Kilikanoon 2021 Killerman’s Run GSM Clare Valley, Australia ($26.99)
Every Day
Pikes 2019 Clare Red Syrah/Grenache Clare Valley, Australia ($19.99)
Zorzal 2020 Garnacha Blanca Navarra, Spain ($24.99)
Sardasol 2019 Garnacha Navarra, Spain ($18.99)
