Grand noir

Grand Noir de la Calmette (or simply Grand noir) is a red teinturier grape variety that is a crossing of Petit Bouschet and Aramon noir created in 1855 by French grape breeder Henri Bouschet at his vineyard in Mauguio in the Hérault department. The grape was named after the breeding station Domaine de la Calmette. As a teinturier, Grand noir is often used to add color to wines that it is blended into but is paler than other choices such as Alicante Bouschet. The vine tends to bud late and has a high productivity but with some susceptibility to the viticultural hazard of powdery mildew.

While Grand Noir de la Calmette originated in France and was once widely grown in the Cognac and Languedoc wine regions, today it is rarely planted in that country. Instead, the variety is predominately found in the Spanish wine regions of Galicia in northwest Spain and in the southern Portuguese wine regions of Alentejo.

Grand Noir de la Calmette is often compared with its sibling grape, Alicante Bouschet, and the wines that both varieties produce tend to be very similar though Master of Wine Jancis Robinson notes that those made from Grand Noir de la Calmette tend to have more noticeable "peppery" spice.

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Wikipedia