Alicante Bouschet, a teinturier

Wine Folly illustration. 

Andrew gave us rooted cuttings of a grape varietal called Alicante Bouschet. It is a Teinturier variety, a grape with both red flesh and red skin. Big, bold Alicante Bouschet is strongly fruit-flavoured, with tones of blackberries, blueberries, black cherries, and more. It has spicy, smoky flavours, along with sweeter tones of dark chocolate, baking spice, and vanilla bean. But most of all, it has a deep red colour and is used to strengthen the colour of otherwise light red wines. Alas, Alicante Bouschet ripens late and loves hot, dry areas with lots of sun, places like Spain and Portugal, where it is gaining popularity. Not likely to do well outside in Ireland -- yet! We may need another polytunnel. 

I wonder if this grape will be making a comeback with global warming speeding up.