WTF is Alicante Bouschet aka Garnacha Tintorera?

Show Notes

Episode 139: WTF is Alicante Bouschet aka Garnacha Tintorera?  00:00

Hello! And welcome to The Wine Pair Podcast. I’m Joe, your sommelier of reasonably priced wine, and this is my wife and my wine pairing partner in crime, Carmela. And we are The Wine Pair!

If you are new to our podcast, here is a quick orientation! Each week, we explore a different wine varietal or blend—like Pinot Noir or Bordeaux or Alicante Bouschet — and dive into what makes it unique, special,and worth learning about. Our goal is to help you expand your wine knowledge in a fun way that normal people can understand. We also taste and review 2-3 wines under $20 each, and share our scores and recommendations to help you find great wines without breaking the bank. So, thank you so much for joining us! And, we are proud to say that Decanter Magazine calls us fun, irreverent, chatty, and entertaining.

So, Carmela, a few weeks ago one of our listeners - Maria - sent us a really sweet note, so I am going to read it to you all, because it has everything to do with this week’s episode:
I have been listening to your podcast for a couple of years now and am a big fan! (It motivates me to walk outdoors in all kinds of weather.) (But then I get home with a hankering for wine...so the net health impact is probably neutral.)

I wonder whether you might consider an episode on teinturier (ten-tur-ree-ay) grapes.  Those are grapes whose flesh is red like their skins.  (Other red grapes have white flesh.)  I tasted a Saperavi , a Georgian grape, at the Dr. Konstantin Frank Winery in New York's Finger Lakes.  I have lived in or near the Finger Lakes for the past 40+ years and have drunk gallons of Finger Lakes wines.  We're still working on the reds, as the relatively short growing season makes them a challenge.

The problem is, teinturier wines seem to run on the more expensive side, so they may not fit into the paradigm for your podcast.

So, first of all, we love getting requests from our listeners, so thank you, Maria, for reaching out and for the suggestion.

And I really liked her suggestion because I am pretty ignorant about teinturier (ten-tur-ree-ay) grapes, so this was an awesome opportunity to learn more. So, we are going to spend a little bit of time on what the teinturier grapes are, and then we are going to spend a little time on a specific wine made from teinturier grapes called Alicante Bouschet, or also known as Garnacha Tintorera.

So I looked up information on the interwebs to learn more, and Wine Folly has a good intro article on these odd grapes. The first thing they note is that lovers of big red wines are starting to seek out wines made from teinturier grapes. So, if that sounds like you - cause it’s not really us - this could be an interesting grape for you!

As Maria said in her note to us, Teinturier grapes are unusual in that they have red flesh to go along with their red skins. Most grapes have a white or green flesh, but these grapes are red through and through. And the name comes from the French term “to dye or stain.”

Not only are these unusual grapes, they are not super common either.

So, what may be surprising to people is that most red wines are made from grapes that have red skins and white or green flesh, and it is the skins that give red wine their color. So remember that so you can impress your friends the next time you are out to dinner. 

Teinturier grapes are a mutation, and they have often been used by winemakers to make red wines richer in color. There are a number of teinturier grapes, but the most common are 

• Alicante Bouschet (which is mostly a Portuguese wine grape that we are drinking today)
• Chambourcin (which is mostly an American wine grape)
• Saperavi (which is a Georgian wine grape that Maria also mentioned)

We’ll talk more about Alicante Bouschet in a minute, but Chambourcin is a French-American hybrid grape that is cold and disease resistant and is highly productive, and it makes strong, deep colored and aromatic wines. It is mostly grown in the eastern US in places like New Jersey, New York, Pennsylvania, Maryland, Delaware, Virginia, West Virginia, and North Carolina, but can also be found in places like Michigan, Oklahoma, Illinois, Indiana, Kansas, Canada, New Zealand, Australia, France, and Portugal. 

Saperavi, which is Georgian for paint or dye (like in coloring something, not like in morto), is native to Georgia, is known to grow quickly and produce a very strong tasting wine, and is also known to be cold resistant and grows well at high altitudes far from coasts. It is made into dry and semi-sweet wines, and is mostly grown in the country of Georgia and Russia, and can also be found in Moldova, Armenia, Ukraine, Uzbekistan, Azerbaijan, Australia, and is starting to be found in New York - just like Maria said. Maria knows stuff!

These wines, again, tend to be blending grapes, especially used for their color and fruitiness, but also because they can help when there is damage to grapes from fires - which is becoming more and more common. Because the skins give most red wines color, but are also the area that holds the smoke taint, teinturier wines can add color without the skin, which keeps the smoke taint out of the wine.

But today, we are going to focus on the other of the three significant teinturier wines - Alicante Bouschet - which we are going to talk more about, and we have two Alicante Bouschet wines to taste and review and let you know if we think they are worth seeking out . . . 

But first . . . we have to do our shameless plug.

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And we want to make content you care about and you like, so send us a note and tell us what you like and don’t like, if there are wines you want us to try or wine making areas of the world you are curious about - and we’ll take care of it!

And, as we do every week, we’ll tell you someone we think you should recommend The Wine Pair Podcast to so we can keep growing listeners. This week, we want you to recommend us to anyone who loves a big, bold, red wine and wants to try something new and unique. Teinturier wines seem to me to a type of wine that would make great conversation starters!

ARTICLES and LINKS

• https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=SOSjN1Z-Ey0
• https://winefolly.com/deep-dive/alicante-bouschet-wine/ 
• https://winefolly.com/tips/teinturier-grapes/ 
• https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Chambourcin 

Topic: WTF is Alicante Bouschet aka Garnacha Tintorera 10:16

Now, let’s learn more about what exactly the F Alicante Bouschet wines are, because I don’t know very much about them! 

Alicante Bouschet grapes have been around for about 150 years, and were developed by winemakers in order to have a grape that has a lot of color, grows at high volume, and is fruity. Like the other teinturier grapes we have been talking about, Alicante Bouschet have been used most often as a blending grape to make other wines bigger tasting, or, because they are easy to grow and make a lot of grapes, for home winemakers to make big, cheap wines on their own.

The grapes came from a combination of a French grape called Aramon that was cross-bred with another grape called Teinturier du Cher in France, to create a grape called Petit Bouschet. Then Petit Bouschet was cross-bred with Grenache to create a grape called Alicante Bouschet, and also goes by a ton of other names, including Alicante Henri Bouschet, Garnacha Tintorera, Tintorera, and Roussillon among many many others. We have a link to the Wikipedia article in our show notes, so if you want to see all of the names, you can see them there. And there is also a little family tree which helps because all of these relationships are confusing

When the phylloxera plague hit wine grapes in the 1800’s, Alicante Bouschet had its hey-day because it was resistant and grew very quickly and in large amounts. 

Because it grows so fast and so easily and so abundantly, and makes a big wine, Alicante Bouschet was also used a ton during Prohibition in America, which had a loophole that allowed families to make wine at home for personal use. Like our families did, Carmela!

Alicante Bouschet is most commonly found in Spain, France, Chile, and Portugal, and today we are drinking wines from Spain and Portugal. It is a wine with a ton of fruit, body, tannin, and relatively high alcohol, and only medium acidity. It is known as a bold wine with jammy flavors, and depending on whether it is grown in warm climates or cooler climates, it can vary from mellow to sharp, depending on the acidity, which is generally higher in cooler areas. Cooler grape growing area, higher acid wine. So, I will say, this is not our typical choice for a red wine. But Maria wanted us to do some episodes on it, so dammit, we are doing it! Everything for our listeners!

In Portugal, it is known to make a big, smoky red and it is found in the southern areas of the country where it is hot and dry, and along with its single varietal production, it is also often blended with Aragonez, which is Portugal’s name for Tempranillo - which is the Spanish grape in Rioja wines - as well as blending with a grape called Trincadeira.

In Spain, it is known for making a juicy and fruity wine and is known more commonly as Garnacha Tintorera. It grows a lot in the Castilla-La-Mancha and Almansa areas of eastern Spain, and along with being s single varietal, it is sometimes blended with Mourvedre - known as Monastrell in Spain - and Tempranillo. 

In the United States, there is still quite a bit of Alicante Bouschet being grown even after Prohibition, and a lot of it is California, especially Napa, Sonoma, Madera, and Calaveras counties, and there is a burgeoning wine industry in Texas that is starting to make it as well. 

So, I am really interested and intrigued by this wine. This is exactly why we created these WTF episodes, because we love to learn about wines that are a bit off of the radar, and can be found for relatively reasonable prices. What is fun about learning about these wines is that it gives us an appreciation for all that is out there - which is way beyond the typical Cabernet Sauvignon and Chardonnay that everyone is stuck on - and because we can learn more about the regions they are from and the histories of those areas.

So, on that note, I think it’s time to learn a little more about the specific wines we are drinking today. Whaddya say?

ARTICLES and LINKS

• https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Alicante_Bouschet
• https://www.texaswinecollective.com/blog/Alicante-Bouschet---A-Really-Red-Grape1

Alicante Bouschet AKA Garnacha Tintorera Wines We Chose for This Episode 16:20

As usual, both of the wines we have chosen for this episode are under $20, and they should be relatively easy to find because I bought them at wine.com. I will not say these are the easiest of easy wines to find, but if you have a decent wine shop or grocery store wine section near you and they have a decent collection of Spanish or Portuguese wines, or maybe even Finger Lakes wines or the country of Georgia, you should be able to find them. And we’ll let you know if you should actually be on the lookout for them after we taste them!

The first wine we are going to drink is the 2021 Terra d'Alter Alicante Bouschet, and it comes from the Alentejo region of Portugal, which is to the east of Lisbon. This wine got a 90 rating from Wine Enthusiast for the 2019 vintage, but I have not seen any for this 2021 vintage.

There were a couple of good websites with information about this wine that I have links to in the show notes, so a few things to call out. They say they picked the grapes late in the season to get the richest wine with strong tannins, and it is macerated on the skins for an extended period - maceration is when the skin breaks down and softens and they do this to get more flavor, color, and tannin on the wine. It is then aged in oak barriques for 14 months. Barriques are smaller oak barrels, and so they can give a bolder oaky flavor to wines. 

The wine is evidently a mash-up by two wine estate owners in Portugal - the Roquette and Castel-Branco Borges families who teamed up with winemaker Peter Bright who is actually from Australia and considered a “flying winemaker” which means a person who goes all over the world consulting with winemakers across the globe.  So, that is an interesting twist, and another thing I did not know. 

The second wine we are going to drink in the 2020 Bodegas Venta La Vega Adaras Calizo Garnacha Tintorera, and the winery claims this is a 100% organic and made with sustainable wine practices, so if that is important to you, this is a good wine to seek out. This wine is also unusual because it gives some information on the bottle that you don’t often see. It says it is 100% Garnacha Tintorera and that it is aged 3 months in French Oak barrels, which doesn’t seem like a super long time. And, this wine is only 13% alcohol, compared to the previous wine which is 14.5%, so these could be pretty different tasting experiences for the same wine.

This wine was a little harder to find info on and I could not find a tech sheet, but there were several websites that gave some good information. On one, there was some sort of difficult to understand explanation of how they number their wines based on triangles, and it made my head spin. There is a link to it in the show notes if you want to know more, but I feel like it was a bit like witchcraft.

This wine is said to be a personal project of the renowned winemaker Raúl Pérez who has an EPIC long white beard that looks kind of like the one I had in COVID when I fully lost my mind for about a year. He is evidently a winemaking genius, so let’s hope his wine is good. 

I really don’t have a ton else to tell you about this wine beyond that other than it is from La Mancha Spain which is kind of smack in the middle part of Spain, and that Robert Parker’s Wine Advocate gave the 2019 vintage a 90 rating. Although I usually don’t like wines that Robert Parker likes. 

So, I think that is enough information - let’s get to drinking! We’ll take a quick break and be right back. And, if you have these wines or similar wines, drink along with us!


ARTICLES and LINKS

• https://www.currywines.de/en/terra-d-alter-alicante-bouschet-2021 
• https://www.portugalvineyards.com/en/alentejo/19459-terra-dalter-alicante-bouschet-red-2020-5600370480058.html 
• https://wome.pt/product/terra-alter-alicante-bouschet/?lang=en 
• https://www.weaverswines.com/blogpost/the-original-flying-wine-maker.html 
• https://www.mgwinesgroup.com/en/bodegas-venta-la-vega/ 
• https://www.skurnik.com/producer/bodegas-y-vinedos-raul-perez-2/ 
• https://bitterpops.com/products/bodegas-venta-la-vega-adaras-calizo-grenacha-spain-750ml 

2021 Terra d'Alter Alicante Bouschet, 2020 Bodegas Venta La Vega Adaras Calizo Garnacha Tintorera  Wine Tasting, Pairing, and Review 22:00

Wine: Terra d'Alter Alicante Bouschet (Click here to find this wine on wine.com. We may be compensated if you purchase)
Region: Portugal, Alentejano
Year: 2021
Price: $14.99
Retailer: wine.com
Alcohol: 14.5%
Grapes: Alicante Bouschet

What we tasted and smelled in this Terra d'Alter Alicante Bouschet:

• Color: Very dark purple
• On the nose: Hot, plum, cinnamon, raisin, dried currant, smoky, sweet edge to it, cinnamon spice cake, jammy, iHop fruit syrup
• In the mouth: A bit of tart fruit, juicy jammy fruit, a lot of tannin, big body, bold, plum, smoke, blackberry bramble, salty, umami, blueberry

Food to pair with this Terra d'Alter Alicante Bouschet: Red meat, steak, cheeseburger, cookout, grilled wine, Philly Cheesesteak, pepperoni pizza, grilled veggies, grilled portabello
 
As a reminder on our rating scale, we rate on a scale of 1-10, with no half points, where 7 and above means that we would buy it, and 4 and below means that we are likely to pour it down the sink, and a 5 or 6 means we are likely to drink it and finish it, but we are probably not going to buy it. 

Terra d'Alter Alicante Bouschet Wine Rating: 

• Joe: 7/10
• Carmela: 6/10

Wine: Bodegas Venta La Vega Adaras Calizo Garnacha Tintorera (Click here to find this wine on wine.com. We may be compensated if you purchase.)
Region: Spain, La Mancha
Year: 2020
Price: $15.99
Retailer: wine.com
Alcohol: 13%
Grapes: Alicante Bouschet / Garnacha Tintorera

What we tasted and smelled in this Bodegas Venta La Vega Adaras Calizo Garnacha Tintorera:

• Color: A bit lighter, not opaque
• On the nose: Tobacco, earthy, black cherry, plum, black licorice, black pepper, clay, vegetable, matchstick
• In the mouth: Tart fruit, tart cherry, orange acidity, cured meat, salami, smoked pepperoni, thin, tastes like a house wine, briney

Food to pair with this Bodegas Venta La Vega Adaras Calizo Garnacha Tintorera: Bread, pizza, focaccia, meat taco, enchilada, Mexican food, mole, meat burrito, pozole, cheesy macho nachos

Bodegas Venta La Vega Adaras Calizo Garnacha Tintorera Wine Rating: 

• Joe: 5/10
• Carmela: 5/10

Which one of these are you finishing tonight?

• Carmela: Terra d'Alter Alicante Bouschet
• Joe: Terra d'Alter Alicante Bouschet

What is your verdict on Alicante Bouschet, at least from these two wines we tasted? 

• Really fun to try something new, good for big bold wine lovers

Taste profiles expected from Alicante Bouschet AKA Garnacha Tintorera  35:33

• General 
  • Wine Folly: Black Cherry, Blackberry Bramble, Black Plum, Black Pepper, Sweet Tobacco
• Terra d'Alter Alicante Bouschet
  • Winery: Profound color, swirling nose of spice and fruit and a dense palette of cream and chocolate finished with finely structured tannins.
  • WE: The almost-black color is echoed in the concentrated black-plum flavors. The powerful wine needs to age. Drink from 2024
  • Portugal Vineyards.com: Colour purple-red very dense and dark. Intense notes of dark fruit and spice with a floral nuance. Plums and prune notes, great acidity and structure. Silky and rich tannins. Very long and rich finish with notes of chocolate and vanilla.
  • Curry Wines: Flows into the glass in a dark crimson colour and exudes seductive aromas of red and black fruits. On the palate it is powerful, with a full body and nuances of plum and prune. In addition silky tannins, a well-balanced acid structure with an extremely powerful finish - simply outstanding!
• Bodegas Venta La Vega Adaras Calizo Garnacha Tintorera
  • Winery: Bright strawberry red with purple edges, on the nose the wine is fresh and floral with aromas of rose petals and violets. Sweet cinnamon and pepper spices give way to bay leaf and menthol notes. Soft on the palate, the wine has a lithe and pleasant quality that continues through the long and fruity finish.

Outro and how to find The Wine Pair Podcast 37:31

Ok, so, Carmela, it’s time for us to go, but before we do, we want to thank you very much for listening to us - and if you haven’t done so yet, now would be the perfect time to follow or subscribe to our podcast and also a fantastic time to leave us a nice rating and review on our website or Apple podcasts or other podcast app - and it is an awesome and free way to support us and help us grow listeners.

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Alright, with that, we are going to sign off, so thanks again, and we will see you next time. And, as we say, life is short, so stop drinking shitty wine.

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