Dulce

Sweet. Spain has less of a reputation for making top-quality sweet wines than France, Italy, or Germany, although several styles of Sherry, Spain’s extraordinary FORTIFIED wine, can be sweet.

What is hairy grenache?

A. The name for a diseased grenache vine that develops a coating on the leaves, making it look like it’s covered in hair

B. A nickname for the feeling of tannin on the palate that comes after drinking grenache

C. A mutation of grenache that has leaves that appear to be covered in fur

D. An idiom in northeast Spain for a hangover that comes from drinking too much red wine

Hairy grenache, or garnacha peluda in Spain and lledoner pelut in the Languedoc Roussillon region of France, is a clone of grenache that has particularly hairy leaves. Like the furry fuzz found on rosemary and other Mediterranean plants, the “fur” evolved as a defense mechanism to protect the vine from heat and conserve moisture. The clone is native to the Spanish region of Catalonia. Wines made from hairy grenache often have a lower alcohol content, but the clone is customarily blended with regular (non-hairy) clones of grenache.

“Wine is earth’s answer to the sun.”

—Margaret Fuller,
American journalist
(1810 – 1850)

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