Carménère

Origin:  France

Description: small, winged bunches; berries average, spherical, beautiful bluish black, pulps soft, herbaceous taste.

Carménère is very similar to Cabernet franc.

Production: budburst fairly early, It is tempremental, vigorous and not very fertile on the basal buds and longer pruning is recommended. It is sometimes prone to the coulure and should not be planted on fertile soils or in cold areas. Carménère does not have particular sensitivity to diseases, except maybe rot. Ripens late season.

Availability: grafted vines of clone NE   1 A are already available

Type of wine/Flavours: Wines are rich, well coloured (about one third more anthocyanin that Cabernet Sauvignon), with a high tannic content but sometimes it could be low in acidity and a little bitter. The young wines are characterized by their herbaceous taste. A vegetal character is usually dominant unless it reaches full maturity

Grenache gris

Origin

This cultivar is a mutation of white Grenache.

Description

The description matches that of Grenache noir, except for the berry colour which is yellow-green at full ripeness

Phenology

Time of bud burst:  early, a few days before Grenache noir.

Time of maturity: mid season, slightly earlier than Grenache noir.

Production

This cultivar seems to be less susceptible to rain damage than Grenache noir and proves to be a little earlier. It is resistant to wind, has an upright habit and is well suited to drought conditions (gravel or stony soils). Grenache blanc, like other types of Grenache, is sensitive of magnesium deficiency.

Susceptibility to diseases and pests

Grenache Blanc is very sensitive to botrytis, phomopsis, downy mildew and bacterial diseases. It is rather resistant to powdery mildew, leaf hoppers and mites.

Type of wine/Flavours

Clusters are large while the berries are medium. Grenache Blanc are used for the preparation of fortified wines but also allows to obtain interesting dry white wines with a long finish, full bodied but sometimes lacks a little acidity.