Cinsault

Cinsault (also spelled Cinsaut) is a heat- and drought-tolerant red grape of the Mediterranean, valued for the lightness, suppleness and perfume it brings rather than for power. Thin colour, low tannin and bright red-berry fruit make it a gentle, fragrant wine that is most often a blending partner — softening and perfuming Grenache, Syrah and Carignan in the southern Rhone and the Languedoc, and lending freshness and pale colour to Provence rosé. It thrives where the sun is fierce and water is scarce, which is why it spread across southern France, North Africa, Lebanon and South Africa. There it became a parent of Pinotage, crossed with Pinot Noir, and so left a lasting mark far beyond its modest reputation as a varietal wine.