Grenache Wine

Grenache is perhaps one of the most extensively planted red wine grapes in the world. It is a vine with good natural vigour and good wind tolerance that requires careful management for optimum results. Grenache is a late ripener that prefers hot, dry conditions such as in Spain and southern of France. It is also a very sturdy vine that can survive arid and drought conditions well. Cool and damp conditions, on the other hand, can cause disease and its compact fruit clusters are prone to rot. An interesting feature of this variety is that it alternates, one 'good' year with a 'light' year - a recuperating year as it were.

Grenache has great versatility and can be used to make both light and heavy red wines. In general this grape produces a spicy, berry-flavoured wine with a fairly high alcoholic content. Grenache has low acidity and tannin and so is frequently blended with such varieties as Shiraz. It is also often used to produce rosé due to its cherry red colour. As a varietal it makes an excellent wine and as a blend it does very well with Shiraz, and when Mourvèdre is also added this is known as a Rhône red blend or GSM.

Like the Pinot family of grapes, Grenache comes in 'black', 'grey' and 'white' types. The most common or standard type is the ‘Black Grenache’. The grey or Grenache Gris was once very widely planted in France, but is now seen much less often. Grenache Blanc is also popular in France, and is often blended with Roussanne.

Grenache is planted throughout the Rhone Valley and across the Languedoc-Roussillon region where it is usually used to make Grenache Rosé. The most well-known rosé of this kind being from the Tavel district of the Côtes du Rhône. Grenache is also well-known for making dry red wines, the best known of which are Emmanuel Reynaud of Château Rayas, and Philippe Laurent of Domaine du Gramenon.

While France produces many famous vintages using Grenache, it is in its place of origin – Spain, where it is know as Garnacha, that some three times as much Grenache is grown. The variety probably developed in Aragon or Catalonia from where is crossed the Pyrenees into southern France. In Spain it is most well-known for its part in the wines of the Rioja region. A possible alternative place of origin is the island of Sardinia, where the Cannonau variety, that is in fact Grenache, claims it origin.

An interesting side history of the Grenache variety is that an off shoot called Garnacha Tintorera became briefly popular in the United States when its thick skins made it suitable for transporting from California around the country and into people’s homes. Why? Because under Prohibition small amounts of wine were allowed to be made at home!

James Busby gathered many of the vines for his famous collection in Spain and so naturally he brought a vine of the Grenache variety with him to Australia in 1832. But these particular vines do not seem to have been the origin of any productive vineyards. At least not in South Australia, where in 1844, Christopher Rawson Penfold brought Grenache cuttings from France.

In South Australia Grenache proved very adaptable to such wine regions as McLaren Vale, and the Barossa and Clare Valley’s. For much of the time these South Australia regions used their Grenache to make fortified wines but in more recent times Grenache has been made into a single varietal or used in ‘GSM’ blends with Shiraz and Mourvedre.

Despite this history in South Australia and its significance in other wine growing regions of the world, Grenache currently is in fact less than 2% of all vine plantings in Australia. Most of its past popularity was due to the taste for fortified wines, in which Grenache was used almost exclusively. Nowadays it is more likely to be used in table wines, but not to anywhere near the extent of such red grape varieties as Cabernet Sauvignon or Merlot.

The best Grenache in Australia is still produced by both the Barossa Valley and McLaren Vale wine regions, and from the oldest vineyards. One of these is the Mrs Wigley Grenache Rose 2007 produced by the Wirra Wirra vineyard. Mrs Wigley was a cat who made its home in the Wirra Wirra cellars and Wirra Wirra itself is an aboriginal name meaning amongst the gums. The Mrs Wigley Grenache Rose is designed to be a simple, accessible wine, perfect for picnics under the trees. This vintage is unoaked and has a quality of freshness that is hard to beat.

An example of Grenache used in a blend is the Turkey Flat Rosé 2008, this is a blending of four wines - Grenache/Shiraz/Cabernet Sauvignon/Dolcetto – from the Barossa Valley of South Australia. The Turkey Flat vineyard is found where bush turkeys once roamed and Johann Friedrich August Fiedler first planted Shiraz vines in 1843. Created without oak treatment, this is a fresh, stylish rosé with an intense flavour. The Turkey Flat vintage is said to have fragrant strawberry and raspberry fruit flavours.

The relative abundance of Grenache and its vigor in the warmer climates of the New World has led many to see it as a commonplace red. Though at one time popular in California, it has now been surpassed by Merlot. This is something the so called ‘Rhône Rangers’ are attempting to reverse. Only time will tell if they are successful.

In its land of origin the Grenache has now been overtaken by Tempranillo as far as planted acreage is concerned. However, Grenache may be given a brighter future by the exploitation of the rather unprepossessingly named ‘hairy Grenache’. The name refers to the fine little hairs to be found on the underside of its leaf and research into its qualities in Spain points to this Grenache clone being able to produce smaller berries with a thicker skin, suggesting a greater potential for making fine wine.