Garnacha (aka Grenache)

Garnacha (aka Grenache in France) is generally spicy, berry-flavoured and soft on the palate and produces wine with a relatively high alcohol content, but it needs careful control of yields for best results. Characteristic flavour profiles on Garnacha include red fruit flavours (raspberry and strawberry) with a subtle, white pepper spice note. Garnacha wines are highly prone to oxidation, with even young examples having the potential to show browning (or “bricking”) coloration that can be noticed around the rim when evaluating the wine at an angle in the glass. As Garnacha ages the wines tend to take on more leather and tar flavours. Wines made from Garnacha tend to lack acid, tannin and colour, and it is often blended with other varieties such as Syrah, Carignan, Tempranillo, and Cinsault.
In Spain, there are monovarietal wines made of Garnacha tinta, notably in the southern Aragon wine regions of Calatayud, Carinena and Campo de Borja, but it is also used in blends, as in some Rioja wines with tempranillo.
The Garnacha vine is characterized by its strong wood canopy and upright growth. It has good wind tolerance (which is useful with the northerly Cierzo and Mistral winds that influence the regions of Aragon and the Rhone) and has shown itself to be very suited for the dry, warm windy climate around the Mediterranean. The vine buds early and requires a long growing season in order to fully ripen. Grenache is often one of the last grapes to be harvested, often ripening weeks after Cabernet Sauvignon. The long ripening process allows the sugars in the grape to reach high levels, making Garnacha-based wines capable of substantial alcohol levels, often at least 15% ABV. While the vine is generally vigorous, it is susceptible to various grape diseases that can affect the yield and quality of the grape production such as coulure, bunch rot and downy mildew due to the vine’s tight grape clusters. Marginal and wet climates can increase Grenache’s propensity to develop these viticultural dangers. The vine’s drought resistance is dependent on the type of rootstock it is planted on but on all types of rootstocks, Garnacha seems to respond favourably to some degree of moisture stress.
Grenache prefers hot, dry soils that are well drained but it is relatively adaptable to all vineyard soil types. In southern France, Grenache thrives on schist and granite soils and has responded well to the stony soil of Châteauneuf-du-Pape with the area’s galets roulés, heat-retentive stones. In Priorat, the crumbly schist soil of the region retains enough water to allow producers to avoid irrigation in the dry wine region. Older vines with low yields can increase the concentration of phenolic compounds and produce darker, more tannic wines such as those found in the Priorat region of Spain where yields are often around 5-6 hectolitres/hectare (less than half a ton per acre).