Every wine grape has its day. International Grenache Day is tomorrow. Such days are promotional gimmicks, meant to introduce a grape to a new audience or, better yet, to persuade more people to buy wine made with the grape.
Grenache, also commonly known as Grenache Noir, really doesn’t need its own day. While acreage devoted to Grenache has declined worldwide over the past few decades, it still is one of the planet’s more extensively cultivated varieties. There’s more of it being grown than either Sauvignon Blanc or Pinot Noir.
In California, the tide of Grenache is rising rather than ebbing, with acreage increasing over the past decade. It’s now up to around 4400 acres. That isn’t much, not when compared with Cabernet Sauvignon’s 95,000 acres, but it shows that Grenache has some momentum.
To that point, cultivation of Grenache is up in California counties where it hasn’t historically been grown much, like San Luis Obispo, Santa Barbara, Sonoma, El Dorado, Amador and Napa. Acreage planted to Grenache where it long has been a staple of the local wine trade – San Joaquin, Madera, Fresno – has remained largely unchanged over the past decade. There, Grenache typically has been used for rosé wines and to help flesh out every day jug blends, where it remained anonymous and unknown, at least to consumers.
That Grenache is expanding into places like El Dorado, Amador and Napa is a sign that a growing community of winemakers recognizes that when given a chance in enclaves with different soils, different exposures, different temperature swings and the like Grenache can yield wines that deliver more character, intrigue and pleasure than when it is grown across the flat, dry and hot Central Valley.
To be sure, much Grenache continues to be exploited in blends, though today they are likely to be blends based less on the traditions of the Central Valley and more on the esteemed models of the French appellations Chateauneuf-du-Pape and Gigondas, where the grape has been given more deference than it has in California. Here, such blends commonly go by the shorthand designation “GSM,” for Grenache, Syrah and Mourvèdre.
On its own as a varietal wine, Grenache can be highly and invitingly perfumed, with fresh red-fruit flavors evocative of raspberries, pomegranates and strawberries. On the palate, peppery spice often appears, as well as a thread of earthiness. Acidity is refreshing, texture silken, tannins retreating. For the most part, it isn’t husky, being more likely to show restraint and nuance.
In California, Grenache continues to be frequently exploited for pink wines, but red interpretations look to be increasing, though they typically won’t be as deeply colored as, say, Cabernet Sauvignon and Zinfandel. Still, they have their charm. That’s their principal appeal, though winemakers also appreciate the grape’s adaptability to hot and arid growing conditions, which helps explain the variety’s popularity as climate change pushes farmers toward hardier grapes. (In the Sierra Nevada foothills, where torrid and parched conditions long have challenged vintners, Grenache is playing the role fulfilled elsewhere by Pinot Noir, yielding wines of similar structure, bearing and flexibility.)
Over the years, I have become partial to several California Grenaches, whether pink or red. Consistently reliable producers include Lewis Grace Winery in El Dorado County, A Tribute to Grace in Santa Barbara County, Lavender Ridge in Calaveras County, Terre Rouge, Wilderotter and Iron Hub in Amador County, and Bokisch Vineyards in Lodi, where Grenache goes by one of its other many names, Garnacha.
And speaking of Lodi, it has a relatively new player in the Grenache sweepstakes – Acquiesce Winery, which over the past decade has developed an avid following for its wines, almost all of which are white, making it something of an outlier in Lodi, long recognized as principally red-wine country.
To capitalize on that status, Acquiesce’s owners, Susan and Rodney Tipton, and their winemaker, Christina Lopez, have chosen “Christina’s Outlier” for the proprietary name of the only red wine in their lineup, a Grenache.
The Tiptons have just an acre and a half of Grenache, which they have used for a rosé in their otherwise white-wine lineup. Grenache, as other grapes on their estate, which includes such rarities as Clairette Blanche, Picpoul Blanc, Bourboulenc, and Grenache Blanc, all are closely identified with France’s Rhone Valley, which inspired the Tiptons to start growing grapes and making wine in the first place. (Of the 13 wines Acquiesce typically makes each vintage, seven include one or another of the strains of Grenache.)
With the 2021 harvest, they had on their hands more Grenache than they needed for their rosé. Lopez asked if she could play with it. The upshot was the first 50 cases of Outlier, which sold out so fast they were persuaded to boost production to 150 cases from the 2022 vintage.
Just in time for International Grenache Day, the Tiptons are rolling out the Acquiesce 2022 Lodi “Christina’s Outlier” ($32). It’s a fitting wine not only for the day but for the end of summer and the start of fall, given its youthfulness, snap and length. It has the playfulness and dash of Beaujolais, with a similar thread of beets and earth coursing through its bright suggestions of pomegranates and cherries. Its cranberry hue is so light it could pass for a rosé, and while its build is lean it has the acidity and resonating fruit to stand up to some pretty hearty dishes; it didn’t miss a beat when alongside a platter of ribeye pasta. Its first role, however, is as a welcoming aperitif, just the kind of wine for greeting guests. Chill lightly first.
In the future, the Tiptons and Lopez hope to release other “Outliers.” They may or may not be Grenache. They may be red, they may be white. “It will be something different, something not in our normal portfolio,” says Susan Tipton.
Acquiesce winemaker Christina Lopez. (Photo courtesy of Randy Caparoso.)
The “Outlier” label itself is a stark departure from Acquiesce’s usual label, evocative of portraits in gilded frames in the chambers of the Palace of Versailles. Rather, the “Outlier” label draws inspiration from the Mexican card game “lotería,” which Lopez recalls playing with her grandparents. The label is a fanciful replication of the face of one of the game’s cards, and is packed with symbolism. For one, there’s a single red berry in the cluster of otherwise green grapes. And the “9” in the upper left corner stands for the nine letters in both “Christina” and “Acquiesce.”
In addition to “Christina’s Outlier,” Acquiesce is releasing three other Grenache-based wines for International Grenache Day:
The Acquiesce 2021 Lodi Mokelumne River Method Champenoise Grenache Rosé Sparkling Wine ($55) is an exceptionally forward and layered bubbly, from its brilliant pink and lavender shading through its layered and refreshing fruit flavors, reinforced with quickening acidity and complicated with a seam of smoky toastiness. In look, feel and flavor, it’s the role model for what refined and aspirational sparkling wine is supposed to be.
The Acquiesce 2022 Lodi Mokelumne River Grenache Rosé ($32), in its thrust and verve, more than matches the test of whether the last glass of wine is as good as the first. The last glass of this rosé was so refreshing, so talkative of strawberries, cherries and peaches, and so sharp with invigorating acidity that we really were sorry to see that last drop.
The Acquiesce 2022 Lodi Mokelumne River Grenache Blanc ($34) shows through its faint parchment color, beguiling aroma (just what kind of melon is that?), angular construction and suggestions of a mountain slope of shear and shattered slate just why the variety is seizing the attention of several California winemakers. The wine has the fortitude to almost stand up to Sriracha, but I don’t recommend it. Better to savor a glass on a warm day in the shade of a tree whose leaves are being tousled by a late-summer breeze rather than being torn off by fall gusts.
I am not sure whether the Tiptons and Lopez will get to enjoy much Grenache this International Grenache Day, since their harvest is under way, but given the grape’s many other names, they may be able to catch up on International Garnacha Day, International Cannonao Day or International Granaccia Day, variations on the grape’s name almost certain to be added to the calendar.
To find where my book “The Signature Wines of Superior California” can be found, please visit my website SignatureWines.us.