Grenache or Garnacha, it's great!
Grenache wine or the Spanish Garnacha, is a versatile red wine that is produced all over the world. Available from dry to sweet and light-bodied, it is often partnered with other grape varieties to produce stunning blends as well as enjoyed as a single varietal.
What is Grenache?
The Grenache wine is a grape variety originally from Northern Spain where it’s known as Garnacha.
As an easy-to-grow vine, it’s been transported from its native Spain to the rest of the world into a range of wine regions including Australia, Italy, the United States, South America and, of course, France where it is known as the Grenache grape.
The characteristics of this wine are varied and it’s been known as a dry red as well as a sweet, depending on where it has been grown.
What does Grenache taste like?
The vine produces naturally sweet fruit and is incredibly hardy which adds to its appeal among vintners but also has ensured that Grenache has a rocky history among wine appreciators.
The widespread nature of its growth around the world was criticised for diluting the wine’s qualities, but in recent times it has seen a resurgence among winemakers who are passionate about producing high-quality wines from this highly versatile grape variety.
Given that it’s so high in natural sugars and its natural aromatic qualities, it’s been identified as a very easy grape to blend with other styles. Its blending partners include the tannic Shiraz grape, particularly in Australia where Shiraz is a speciality and highly regarded, but also most notably in France from Châteauneuf du Pape.
Although as a single varietal, it is generally enjoyed as a young, fresh wine, with careful winemaking, it has been known to produce powerful reds that age incredibly well and develop complex characters over time. In fact, French winemakers have ranked it as highly as the Cabernet Sauvignon wine for developing complexity, and depth and for its aging potential.
Because it thrives so well in warm climates, it’s easily adaptable from its comfortable home in the South of France for bold Australian winemakers across a range of regions including South Australia’s Barossa Valley. It has also enjoyed attention from winemakers in South Africa alongside their signature Pinotage Wines.
Is Grenache wine sweet?
The Grenache vine produces wine of all kinds and varieties and it is variably known to be very dry or quite sweet, depending on the winemaker and the region in which the grape is grown.
Wine producers in France typically blend their Grenache with their Syrah grape (or Shiraz for Australians), while in Australia the slowly developed South Australian Grenache wine production gets better and better for their single varietal releases. The Grenache grape vine will only get better with age and the vines planted in the nineteenth century are continuing to produce higher and higher quality examples of this delectable noir wine.
In Australia and the bush vine wine regions, the Grenache is known to produce a medium-bodied wine with a tannin structure very similar to a typical Australian Shiraz. As a red fruit that relishes the heat, it’s relatively easy to produce complex and fuller styles of wine in Australia than in other cooler climate regions. When the harvest is picked earlier, the fruit produces wine finessed into more complex wine varieties and styles. It’s known as a ‘bush vine’ because of how easily it looks after itself.
The tasting notes from Australian grenache are generally fruity tones evoking tones of pomegranate, wild strawberries, violets and red fruits. When treated with oak, it’s known to take on the smooth vanilla tones of the wood and produce an even deeper complexity of smokiness.
This depth pairs beautifully with a range of stewed meats, braised steak and chicken, or even coarse game. Hearty dishes are the friend of the Grenache who holds up well even against spicy Asian cooking. Think Shepherd Pie or Steak & Kidney Pie for cool winter evenings or, throughout the warmer months, consider a milder curry like a Rogan Josh or a Moroccan tagine.
