grenache

This is curiously the world's second most planted grape variety after airén. In Spain it goes under the name of garnacha where it is extremely prolific in Rioja among other regions. In France it covers great swathes across the south of the country from the southern Rhône, where it is the major grape, to the Languedoc and Roussillon. In Châteauneuf-du-Pape, on poor soils with rigorous pruning and 'bush' training it can produce dense wines worthy of decades of cellaring. It is also the 'cannonau' of Sardinia - although the Sardinians dispute this and claim it as a distinct variety of their own. In Spain it really comes into its own in Priorat where it makes intense, concentrated, black wines with plenty of structure for maturing.

It does well in Australia where there is a keenness for low yields and old vines that have been bush trained to maximise concentration and intensity, mostly in the Barossa Valley.

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