Simple Hedonisms

While Syrah is the principal red varietal for the Northern Rhone region, what is the principal red in Southern Rhone?

This is an excellent question.  The most widely produced wine from the Southern Rhone isn’t a single varietal, but Châteauneuf-du-Pape.   Châteauneuf-du-Pape is actually a blend, of no fewer than 13 grape varieties are permitted in.  Generally, most ofChâteauneuf-du-Pape is made up of the 3 highest quality grapes: Grenache, Mourvèdre and Syrah, and a focus on Grenache, now the top planted varietal. Mourvèdre was the most widely planted grape in the Southern Rhone before phylloxera decimated vineyards in the late 1800s.

Our 2nd winning question came from Amy Cleary:

Which Rhone grape is the most widely planted red grape in the world?

The answer may surprise those who might have guessed Syrah. Syrah has a huge planting, with half of the world’s production in France. However, globally, the top red varietal planted is Grenache.  Grenache actually came from Spain, where it is known as ‘garnacha’ but most of its fame and following came from France.

Next Monday we start Round Two of the Contest. This time the questions are requested to be about WHITE Rhone wines. Winners will be selected on Wednesday.

Also don’t forget, this Friday is the first of the drawings for tickets, for email subsribers of Simple Hedonisms. To be eligible to win, simply sign up for (brief, secure) email updates, in the top right. You must have verified your subscription to be eligible to win.

And don’t forget this Wednesday HdR Virtual tasting:  5:00 p.m. to 7:00 p.m. PST – Featured Variety: Grenache

cheers!

Leave a Reply