Berger: Grenache deserves more respect

A decade ago I was being interviewed on a food-and-wine program on a San Francisco radio station.

As we neared the end of the hour, the host said: “We‘ve talked about your love for many different wines, but if you had to take only one varietal to a desert island, what would it be - pinot noir, cabernet, zinfandel?”

With only about a minute to the end of the show, I had little time to elaborate on my answer, which left the show’s host mighty irritated after I said it would be grenache.

“You can’t leave us there!” he said. “Can you explain?”

I said there was no time, and the show ended with the question still hanging in the air. And other than several columns I have written about grenache over the years, I haven’t fully explained my passion for this little-known grape.

Well, if you are a lover of southern Rhône wines, grenache isn’t so little-known since it is often the lead grape in Chateauneuf-du-Pape and plays a significant role in many other red wines such as Côtes du Rhône.

It also is the main grape in many dry and off-dry rosés made in France and it is an increasingly beloved grape by syrah producers in the New World (mainly in Australia) as a blender.

Two decades ago, the amount of grenache in California was scant - fewer than 10,000 acres. Despite demand from some high-quality growers for premium-region grenache by those who love its blending attributes, grenache acreage in California has shrunk to little more than 6,000 acres today.

Compare that with some half-million acres of the variety around the rest of the world and you see that the U.S. wine industry has seemingly failed to understand the charms of this grape.

The reasons, I suspect, are that grenache is usually not a stand-alone grape and that in the 1940s and 1950s, grenache made sweet rosé wines that were generally disliked by wine lovers, and some of that stigma remains attached to the variety.

So I was thrilled the other day when I belatedly learned that a society dedicated to grenache was formed four years ago. The International Grenache Association said recently that Sept. 19 this year is international Grenache Day. The aim is to get people around the world to drink grenache on that day.

Given my love for the grape, I’d say that is only 364 days short of the organization’s real goal.

Why grenache? Because instead of the typical dense, pitch-black nature of so many red wines, grenache is often pale, light, has less tannin and a more interesting aromatic spectrum of flavors that most other red grapes.

The aromas and flavors are fascinating, with pomegranate and cranberry replacing the nearly ubiquitous black cherry and plum.

Some people do give this grape the respect it deserves. Bonny Doon’s irrepressible Randall Grahm makes great use of it, notably in his Cigare Volant. Jason Haas’ Tablas Creek in Paso Robles stands behind the grape as an integral part of his red wine program. Peter Mathis in Sonoma Valley has a business card, the front of which has only one word: Grenache. And on the back it says, “I grow it. I make it.”

Steve Beckmen and Tom Stolpman in California’s Central Coast grow some of the state’s best grenache, and there are superb plantings in Mendocino County, Monterey County, and in the Sierra foothills.

Among the best grenache wines I’ve ever tasted are Australian bottlings, some of which are so in-demand Down Under that they are not exported.

One reason grenache isn’t as understood here is that the Grenache Association has no Americans on its board, and no U.S. wineries are even members! Its greatest support is from Europe.

In fact, I didn’t even know the Association was formed in 2010 until last week, and purely by accident. I’d call that shortsighted and missing one of the world’s most important markets.

Sonoma County resident Dan Berger publishes “Vintage Experiences,” a weekly wine newsletter. Write to him at winenut@gmail.com.