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With the really cold weather upon us, you might be interested in finding a hearty robust red wine that by itself may surprise you. The surprise is not only in the deep color, the robust flavor, but also in finding out that this grape is found in many of the wines you drink that are blends. The program covers Carignan and Petite Sirah. They play important roles in red wine production in California and in many parts of the world.

Carignan gets its name from the ancient Spanish city of Carinena where it still makes dark, rustic and potent reds of medium quality. In southern France it became known as Carignan and although quality-conscious producers continue to pull it up, it remains one of the most planted varieties in the Midi. Also known as Carignano in Italy, offspring of the original vine make the wine. Carignano de Sulcis, a relatively recent D.O.C. on the island of Sardinia. At some point, it crossed the Atlantic and landed in California where Italian immigrants loved its dark color and good alcohol content. They planted it in so-called "field blends" because teh grapes, Barbera, Petite Sirah, Zinfandel and Carignan were planted helter-skelter and harvested together to make a full-bodied wine. In the process of becoming Americanized, Carignan added a letter and became Carignane.

Why anyone would want to grow this grape is debatable. It is sensitive to several types of mildew, has high acid, strong tannis which can be unpleasant when young and grows on such strong canes that harvesting by machine is difficult to say the least. Yet it remains one of the most planted red grapes in the world with an estimated 200-250 thousand acres still producing in both the northern and southern hemispheres.

On the plus side, it does add great color, makes fairly tasty blends with other grapes like Grenache, and buds out in the late spring, thus avoiding the dangers of frost. Its thick skin is not much help against disease but it ships well enough to have been a mainstay of home winemakers in the eastern United States for generations.

Carignan turns up in all manner of red wines from southern France; in the Languedoc, in Provence, in Minervois and especially the department of l'Herault.

It turns up as more as a varietal from California and as a component in Rhone-style blends. It also grows in Uruguay, Argentina and other parts of South America but seldom for export. In 1936, Dr. Harold Olmo of the University of California at Davis, introduced the first of several Carignan crosses with Cabernet Sauvignon to try to improve the heat tolerance and productiveness of Cabernet. The result, Ruby Cabernet, unfortunately inherited more of the lesser characteristics of Carignan than the desireable qualities of Cabernet. Olmo tried again by putting Grenache into the mix, but these two grapes, Carnelian and Centurion have never been widely planted.

Many Californian Zinfandels, even some fairly expensive ones, often contain small fractions of 2 to 6 percent Carignan. Given the fact that this grape is so plentiful it is good palate education to a least become acquainted with it. It has a dark berry character and firm structure when grown carefully. When over-cropped in cooler areas it often takes on a weedy, vegetal smell and loses it richness. The bane of Carignan is that it can easily produce 10 to 15 tons to the acre. Nonetheless, it is a tough grape that refuses to die. Although wines from the Priorato region of Spain in Catalonia oftern contain less than 50% Carignan, we still included one in the January tasting (Barrance del Closos) to demonstrate that fine wines can indeed be made from this grape which one writer has referred to as "villainous."

More information at this link.

Petite Sirah (Petite Sirah; Petite Syrah) [peh-TEET sih-RAH, peh-TEET see-RAH] has gained a strong reputation because it bears such similarity to the genuine Syrah grape of the Rhône Valley in France. DNA fingerprinting done by Professor Carole Meredith, now retired from U.Cal. Davis, has established that Petite Sirah is the same grape as the French variety Durif. A little digging into the parentage of Durif reveals that it turns out to be a cross between the true Sirah and a minor French variety called Peloursin.

This explains why Petite Sirah (note the "i" in the spelling) has such a deep color, earthy blackberry and floral fruit and such big chocolaty tannins and a sometimes peppery finish. Again, this is a workhorse grape that was very popular with the Italian immigrants a hundred years ago in such California locales as Mendocino County, parts of Sonoma, and the Lodi region south of Sacramento. Rare is the Zinfandel these days that doesn't have a little Petite Sirah tucked in for color and fuller body...especially in the $10 to $12 price category.

Petite Sirah is probably not going to increase very much because of the strong consumer demand for real Syrah (also known as Shiraz.) But when made by talented winemakers from exceptional fruit, the best of them are hard to distinguish from their more noble cousin.