GrenacheSymposium|News

December 2010 – London, UK –  Grenache, the ultimate Christmas wine. This year, sommeliers and chefs around the world are encouraging wine lovers to embrace Grenache as the archetypal Christmas wine. There are in fact many Grenache-based Christmas classics, such as Chateauneuf-du-Pape and Priorat – which go perfectly with turkey and trimmings, but usually slip into the glass ‘anonymously’ because Grenache does not get credit on the label.

Australia and California do declare their grape varieties on the label, and their bold, ripe and spicy Grenaches stand up to venison or to the succulence of a rib roast of beef of Dickensian proportions.

Grenache works well with Christmas feasts because there are so many styles. Take white Grenache for instance: in Southern France and Northeast Spain, the white Grenaches are dry, full-bodied, with plenty of texture and minerality.  These are complex styles that go best with the sumptuous sea foods – including lobster and hot-smoked salmon – and they will do just as well with turkey. The supple, fleshy charm of red Grenache has soft tannins and just the right balance of juicy fruit and acidity to make it the perfect partner to a broad range of dishes in a Christmas feast.

Finally, no Christmas meal is complete without the Vin Doux Naturel style of Garnachas from Spain and France.  The red ones are a great match with sea-salted milk chocolate; the golden, oxidised styles are perfect with a bowl of nuts, and some fine hard cheese.

Interest in Grenache—one of the world’s most widely planted red grapes – increased dramatically when International Grenache Day on Friday, September 24, put the grape varietal on the map… literally.   In just 10 days, an International Grenache Day map on Google MyMap attracted more than 20,000 enthusiasts as hundreds of producers, wine merchants, restaurateurs and fans of great wine from 30+ countries logged their events and celebrations into the cyber portal (http://maps.google.com/maps/ms?hl=en&ie=UTF8&msa=0&msid=114447377865232580075.00048e46905b13761a5e3&z=2).  Grenache has gone from Virtually Unknown to a Virtual Hit.

Some Grenache fans chose to head out to restaurants and bars with friends or hosted events to open bottles of Grenache blends or older vintages. The wine cyberwaves were virtually jammed with wishes of “Happy Grenache Day” and “What should I try?”

The volunteers who organised the Day were stunned and delighted by the huge amount of interest and goodwill for this home-grown grassroots campaign:  Celebrations took place on every continent including most European countries, USA, Korea, Nigeria, Australia, India and Brazil.

Commented map creator Nicole Rolet of Chene Bleu wines, “When we reached out to other winemakers and Grenach-o-phıles, we never anticipated how much virtual ink would be written, blogged and tweeted in support of this initiative. Clearly we are not alone in believing that Grenache deserves to be celebrated and appreciated.”

Robert Joseph, publisher of The Joseph Report and an editor at Meiningers Wine Business International added: “When someone comes to write the history of social media, International Grenache Day will deserve a modest chapter of its own, alongside Obama's election and the Iranian election protests. What struck me was the number of people who wrote notes of ‘tasted my first Grenache’ and ‘I never realised that my favourite wine was made with Grenache’.”

Adds David Wainright, Fine & Rare Wine consultant for Zachys’ International auctions, “People like to say that Grenache is the Pinot Noir of the South, but if Pinot is silk, Grenache is velvet.”

Upcoming: This grassroots enthusiasm has inspired the participants in the Grenache Symposium to create an international brainstorming session in early 2011 to plan annual events including the next Grenache Symposium and International Grenache Day. An aim of IGD is to increase recognition and appreciation of Grenache so that one day people will walk into their favourite bar or restaurant and ask for a ‘Glass of Grenache’ as they do currently with Pinot Grigio or Merlot. Any Grenache enthusiasts are invited to join in.

Quotes & Highlights:

Top French wine critic Michel Bettane: “On the 24th I had the opportunity to rediscover how extremely well Grenache wines age. For my friends, I opened my last bottles of a 1990 Gigondas, superb! From here on, International Grenache Day is a date to savour…”

Justin Howard-Sneed, MW Global Wine Director for Direct Wines, one of the UK’s top wine merchants: ‘We predict that the up-and-coming red grape of the future is….. Grenache! ….we have realised quite how many of our most popular wines are made from or are based on Grenache (aka Garnacha). From Northern Spain to the Rhône, via the Roussillon, this great red grape dominates the blended wines of the Mediterranean coast, and deserves to be celebrated.”

Faith Wells, Communications Director of Hospice du Rhône in Paso Robles, California: “Our involvement with International Grenache Day brought together both sides of Hospice du Rhône--education and fun. We hosted 38 guests, for a Bowling Night, who sampled over 43 bottles of Grenache both finished and from barrel. This event allowed us to continue our mission of driving awareness for the overall Rhône category”.

Tim Wildman MW and Sainsbury Food chain Wine Buyer Barry Dick STD were joined by Justin Knock MW of Treasury Wine estates and actor Alec Baldwin in London for “rotisserie chicken washed down with copious amounts of Chateauneuf with a side order of Cannonau”  for an evening of Chickeneuf-du-Pape.

Editor’s Notes:

The idea for IGD 2010 originated with wine legend Stephen Spurrier’s suggestion to two Rhone Producers, Domaine de Mourchon and Chene Bleu, to hold the First International Grenache Symposium (IGS) in June in the Southern Rhone. Over 250 top Grenache producers, journalists, and retailers from 23 countries resolved to celebrate Grenache by suggesting to their local restaurants, retailers, friends and acquaintances to showcase it once a year.  An international association, free for anyone to join, was created to help promote “the grape you know, you just don’t know it” and several initiatives were suggested, including International Grenache Day.

An aim of IGD is to increase recognition and appreciation of Grenache so that one day people will walk into their favourite bar or restaurant and ask for a ‘Glass of Grenache’ as they do currently with Pinot Grigio or Merlot.

The 3 Vs of Grenache: Versatile, Velvety, Voluptuous. Grenache, known as Garnacha in Spain and Cannonau in Italy, is a remarkable grape due to its broad appeal and versatility. It is often responsible for bringing that round, velvety, voluptuous mouthfeel to blends, which is why so many winemakers rely on it and consumers appreciate its character without always knowing to attribute it to Grenache. From white to rosé to sweet fortified wines, as light varietal reds or complex blends, it has historically and most famously hidden in blends from regions like Chateauneuf-du-Pape and Priorat – making great wines greater but lacking the “brand recognition” of varietals such as Chardonnay or Pinot Noir.

www.grenachesymposium.com

Media Contact:

Grenache Symposium PR Director

Jane Silverman

press.grenachesymposium@gmail.com

IGD Contacts:

UK:              Iverson.laura@gmail.com

USA:            Doug@margerumwines.com

Resources:

short video on the Grenache Symposium is available on YouTube:

http://www.youtube.com/grenachesymposium.

and the complete presentations are on Vimeo: http://vimeo.com/channels/121996