ABOUT GARNACHA
While Garnacha as it’s known in Spain or Grenache is now one of the most widely planted grapes in the world, its origin goes back to Europe in the Aragon region, North-eastern Spain.
Thriving in the hot, dry Mediterranean climate, the varietal soon spread, first to Catalonia and then to other places also belonging to the Crown of Aragón expanded throughout the 12th-17th centuries (Southern France, Corsica, Sardinia, southern Italy, Sicily, Croatia, and even Greece). In the 18th and 19th centuries, Garnacha continued its expansion and spread to non-European regions, including Australia, North Africa, and California.
The winemakers in the varietal’s birthplace (PDOs of Calatayud, Campo de Borja, Cariñena, Terra Alta , Priorat– Spain) have embraced the grape for its high-quality, characterful varietal wines over the past 20 years. Unfortunately, it’s impossible to find vines that date back to the grape’s origin, due to the devastating phylloxera pest that hit Europe’s vineyards in the 1800s. Still, many of Spain and France’s Garnacha vines are 45 to 120 years old. This is because Garnacha, being a supremely hardy grape, is able to harness the power of time to produce its finest fruit, unlike other varieties that would simply cease grape production.
Garnacha– whether red, white, rosé, sparkling, or fortified – presents several advantages and challenges. While it is not a difficult grape to grow, Garnacha is highly sensitive to variations in terroir and requires specific conditions and care to produce its best wines. In some places, the varietal has historically been blended with other grapes so it can add its ripe, aromatic, and fruity aromas to other grapes with more tannins or color. Finding the perfect balance is a real art that European winemakers have succeeded in mastering.
Garnacha proponents have dubbed the variety the world’s most eco-friendly grape because it’s well adapted to extremely dry weather conditions and therefore can be grown using environmentally friendly vineyard practices. Because it ripens late, the grape needs hot, dry conditions like those provided by the windy continental-Mediterranean climate of its European home. The sturdy wood of the vines allows the variety to withstand strong winds, such as the cierzo and tramontana in Spain, which help keep the grape clusters free of rot and disease. The variety also tends to be disease-resistant and drought-resistant, thriving in areas with little access to water. Its long, deep roots readily seek water, especially in warm, dry, well drained soils with low fertility. Vines produce excellent fruit in a range of soils, particularly slate, clay, pebbles, granite, and limestone.
Old vines, which are abundant in the vineyards of North-eastern Spain, produce even more terroir-specific, concentrated wines due to their lower yields and well-established, deep roots. Increasingly, vintners are turning to these old vines, particularly in high-elevation sites with cooler conditions that preserve acidity, to make elegant, complex, and age-worthy wines.