Carignan

Carignan is a high-acid, high-tannin Mediterranean red grape of Spanish origin — known as Cariñena and Mazuelo in Spain and Carignano in Italy — that was for decades the workhorse of cheap bulk wine across the south of France and North Africa. Vigorous, deeply coloured and late-ripening, it needs a warm, sunny site to ripen its firm tannin and bracing acidity. For much of the twentieth century it was planted for sheer quantity, but gnarled, low-yielding old bush vines in Languedoc-Roussillon, Catalonia's Priorat and Montsant, and Sardinia have driven a quality revival. At its best it is a dark, rustic, structured red of brambly red and black fruit, dried herbs, liquorice and pepper, built to partner hearty Mediterranean food.