Garnacha Tintorera

Red Juice

No matter what color their skins, the great majority of wine grapes have clear juice. Although they may appear red on the outside, their insides remain clear and pure. Garnacha Tintorera, or Alicante Bouschet, is one of the few grapes with a brilliant, red-pigmented, free-run juice. It’s also a highly-productive blending grape, sometimes used – discreetly of course - with nobler grapes to add color, depth and roundness. In Spanish, we call these types of grapes, Tintoreras, literally “dyers”. All of our wines owe their greatness to this very special red-juice grape, not only because of its red pulp, but also because of its productivity, able to yield 12 tons per acre.

You can also find Garnacha Tintorera planted in France, Portugal, Corsica, Tuscany, Calabria in southern Italy, former Yugoslavia, Israel, North Africa and California.

Characteristics

Grape Characteristics
Dark, inky purple-skinned grape with thick, durable skin and a vibrant red interior

Wine Characteristics
Dark ruby in color with notes of black pepper, rich black olive, dark chocolate with an undercurrent of red fruit. Spicy in the mouth with herbal notes, bright acidity and nice chocolate/charcoal flavors. It’s an overall fruit-driven wine showing layers upon layers of varying red fruit.

Trivia

In the United States, Garnacha Tintorera became a household name in the 20’s as a result of Prohibition. Its lively, and rather unique, red color afforded bootleggers the opportunity to stretch it with water and sugar. Plus, as a result of it’s thick red skin, Garnacha Tintorera became popular for its durability in making long cross-country trips without sacrificing flavor. Not a decade later, Garnacha Tinterera became one of the most widely planted grapes in the United States, accounting for a third of all grape production in California.