The red grape variety is a new variety between Petit Bouschet x Alicante (Garnacha Tinta). There are 65 synonyms. The most important, grouped alphabetically by country, are Kambuša (Bosnia-Herzegovina); Alicante Noir (France); Alicante Feminello, Tintoria (Italy); Dalmatinka (Croatia); Sumo Tinto (Portugal); Alicante, Alicante Bouchet, Alicante Bouschet, Alicante Bouschet No. 2, Alicante Femminello, Alicante Nero, Alicante Tinto, Alicantina, Blasco, Garnacha Tintorera, Redondal, Tinta Fina, Tintorera, Tintorera de Liria, Tintorera de Longares, Tinto Velasco (Spain); Alikant Bushe, Alikant Henri Bushe (Ukraine). It should not be confused with the varieties Garnacha Tinta (Alicante), Grand Noir (Grand Bouschet) or Tinto Velasco, despite seemingly suggestive synonyms or morphological similarities. Due to its good characteristics, it is a favourite crossing partner for new varieties. These were Alicante Ganzin, Bíborfrankos, Complexa, Deliciosa, Golubok, Incrocio Bruni 60, Mulata, Neronet, Odessky Cherny, Primavera, Terras 20, Tintem, Valbom and Yan 73.
The history of the variety's creation was a long one. The French grower Henri Bouschet began crossing the varieties Petit Bouschet (creation of his father Louis Bouschet) and Alicante (Garnacha Tinta) in Mauguio (Hérault) in 1855. In that year, the two varieties Alicante Henri Bouschet and Alicante Bouschet No. 1 were created. Ten years later, he repeated the crosses and created the varieties Alicante Bouschet No. 2, 5, 6, 7, 12 and 13, all of which were morphologically very similar but produced different wines. In the end, Alicante Henri Bouschet (from 1855) and Alicante Bouschet No. 2 (from 1865) remained, which are indistinguishable from the outside and were often planted together. In practice, no distinction is made and the variety(ies) are usually simply referred to as Alicante Bouschet.
The early-maturing, high-yielding variety is resistant to powdery mildew, but susceptible to downy mildew, flavescence dorée and black spot disease, as well as being sensitive to drought. Due to the early budding, bud formation is jeopardised by late frosts in spring. Due to the red-coloured flesh, which is rather rare among grape varieties, and the strongly colouring berry skin, it produces dark and extremely colourful red wines (however, there is also a mutation with colourless flesh). This is why it is mostly used in blends as Teinturier (colouring grape) and was formerly often cultivated in vineyards in France in so-called mixed sets together with the weakly coloured variety Aramon Noir and fermented together with it.
The variety became very popular in France after phylloxera. At the end of the 1980s, the area under vines totalled just under 16,000 hectares, but has now shrunk to 2,607 hectares. The variety is mainly cultivated in the Languedoc in the Hérault department, the rest in the Jura and in the Rhône valley. It is also used for the production of grape juice. In Spain, a total of 19,294 hectares are planted with Garnacha Tintorera. Over half of this is located in Castilla-La Mancha, with the remainder mainly in Galicia and Valencia. There are also other stands in Europe in Greece (60 ha), Italy (286 ha), Romania (20 ha), Portugal (4,547 ha), Switzerland (1 ha), Turkey (532 ha) and Hungary (14 ha).
In the USA during Prohibition (1920-1933), it was exceptionally popular for wine production, as the thick-skinned berries were ideal for long journeys. Many companies and hobby cellar masters purchased grapes and made wine. In California, it was widespread until the 1940s, but today 380 hectares (Central Valley) are still planted with it. Other overseas countries include Argentina (135 ha), Australia (19 ha), Brazil (101 ha), Chile (6,908 ha), Canada (1 ha), Morocco (919 ha), South Africa (7 ha), Tunisia (178 ha) and Uruguay (24 ha). The variety occupied a total of 36,031 hectares of vineyards in 2016. This puts it in 24th place in the global grape variety ranking.
Source: Wine Grapes / J. Robinson, J. Harding, J. Vouillamoz / Penguin Books Ltd. 2012
Pictures: Ursula Brühl, Doris Schneider, Julius Kühn Institute (JKI)
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