Bobal

Bobal is a dark-skinned Spanish red wine grape native to Utiel-Requena, the high inland plateau west of Valencia, where it has been grown for centuries on old, dry-farmed bush vines. It is prized for giving wines of extraordinary depth of colour, bracing acidity and dark-fruit flavour, with firm tannin and a notably high level of resveratrol. Long the workhorse of bulk and blending wine, it is increasingly bottled as a serious varietal red and as a crisp, deep-pink rosado. The best examples come from old vines on cool, altitude vineyards, where the grape's natural acidity and colour shine. It is one of Spain's most planted red grapes, yet remains little known outside its homeland.