Grenache

A versatile grape that can make juicy reds and sweet fortified wines, but for the summer, it’s all about the fruity, elegant rosé

THE GRAPE
With a long ripening process – it’s among the last to be harvested – grenache or garnacha as it’s also known, is well suited to the hot dry climates of the Mediterranean. Spain is thought to be its original home, from where it spread in the time of the Aragon kingdom. These hardy, thin-skinned berries are packed full of sugar, delivering high levels of alcohol.

THE TASTE
Its berry flavours give it versatility, which is why it forms the base for wines as diverse as rich-raspberry flavoured Châteauneuf- du-Pape right through to strawberried rosés. There are also herby flavours of thyme, white pepper spiciness and other fruits such as black cherry and orange.

THE PAIRINGS
Those gentle herbs and spice coupled with red-berry fruits make it ideal for barbecued meats and vegetable skewers, or chorizo paired with chicken in salads. It can work well with more delicately flavoured Asian dishes or fruit-jewelled north African tagines, too. And that’s before you get to the colour mutation, grenache blanc.

THE VINES
So widely planted you’ll find it everywhere, it was among the first to find its way to Australia in the 18th century. Home is Mediterranean Spain, Languedoc-Roussillon and the Rhône Valley in France, and Sardinia, but cooler-climate lighter, spicier grenache is emerging from regions such as Sierra de Gredos, Madrid.