Designation for dark grape varieties or so-called colouring grapes. These grapes have a red pulp, as opposed to the usually light or grey pulp of most red wine grapes. This means that the anthocyanins are not only present in the berry skins, but also inside the berries and thus also in the grape juice in larger quantities. Since the colour pigments are present in the entire plant tissue, the leaves also turn red relatively early. The majority of Färber grapes are used to produce cover wines, and only a small number of them are used to produce wines of their own variety. Such grapes became popular in France, especially from the mid-19th century onwards, to give colour to pale, pigment-poor red wines. In most cases, less than five percent of the cover wine in a cuvée is sufficient to meet this requirement. Such a small amount is sufficient for the colour change, but on the other hand, it is small enough not to cause any unwanted impairment of the taste.
The origin of many colouring grapes goes back to 1824, when Louis Bouschet crossed the varieties Aramon Noir and Teinturier du Cher and called the result Petit Bouschet. The father variety Teinturier du Cher is considered the original grape of all dye grapes. Bouschet's son Henry created Alicante Henri B ouschet in 1866 by crossing Petit Bouschet x Garnacha Tinta, which became the most successful Teinturier grape and later others such as Alicante Ganzin and Grand Noir de la Calmette. Other French Teinturier grapes are dark-fleshed varieties of Gamay such as Gamay Teinturier de Chaudenay, Gamay Teinturier de Bouze, Gamay Teinturier Desbaillet Garnier and Gamay Teinturier Fréaux, as well as Cinsaut, Colobel and Salvador Noire. Californian Teinturier varieties are Royalty and Rubired. In Italy, Abrusco and Ancellotta are preferred. The most important dye grape in Russia is Saperavi. In Germany, the varieties Accent, Carmina, Deckrot, Domina, Dunkelfelder, Kolor, Palas, Rondo and Sulmer are used, in Austria mainly Blauburger.
Pictures: Ursula Brühl, Doris Schneider, Julius Kühn-Institut (JKI)
