Wine · Grape variety · Short entry
Alicante Bouschet
A teinturier (dyer) grape, bred by the Bouschets in Hérault in 1855 from Petit Bouschet and Grenache. It was planted mainly to add colour to blends. France had 24,168 ha in 1958 but only 2,460 ha in 2018; Spain had 26,000 ha in 2015.
Bred for colour
Pl@ntGrape credits Louis and Henri Bouschet with the cross, made in 1855 at Mauguio (Hérault): Grenache × Petit Bouschet, itself Aramon × Teinturier du Cher. VIVC names Henri Bouschet, Domaine de la Calmette, as breeder and confirms the pedigree by markers. The leaves turn an intense red in autumn.
It is used essentially for colour. Pl@ntGrape describes its wines as having good body but often flat and lacking finesse. It is quite susceptible to downy mildew, phomopsis, flavescence dorée and bacterial necrosis.
Where it grows
In France it fell from 24,168 ha in 1958 to 2,460 ha in 2018. In Spain, as Garnacha Tintorera, OIV counted 26,000 ha in 2015, 2.7% of the national vineyard.
How it connects
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