Cinsaut
Cinsaut
(or Cinsault) is most often used as a blending
grape with other types. France has more Cinsaut
planted (50,000 hectares) than Cabernet
Sauvignon and there is as much Cinsaut acreage
planted in its former backdoor wine colony of
Algeria.
Cinsaut is one
of those "grower" varieties that easily produces
a very large crop of 6 to 10 tons per acre. At
this crop level, it shows little flavor
distinction. When properly managed to crop from
just 2 to 4 tons per acre, it can produce quite
flavorful wines of strong aroma and easy
quaffability.
The tight
bunches rot easily, so it does best in drier
climes. The Cinsaut vine is fairly drought
tolerant and has a fairly short growing season.
With cluster stems that easily detatch from the
vine, Cinsaut adapts well to machine harvesting.
It is one of
the most often planted varieties in Southern
France, Algeria and Morocco, and is a major red
variety in South Africa, Corsica, and Lebanon.
The North African plantings were particularly
important when, as colonies of France, their
wine was shipped across the Mediterranean for
blending. The grape was originally known as
"Hermitage" in South Africa (although French
Hermitage has none in its blend). When a South
African professor crossed the grape with Pinot
Noir, he therefore named it Pinotage
(now the Top Red there). There are also
Cinsaut plantings in Australia, although it has
yet to achieve popularity there.
Wine
made from cinsaut grapes can have great perfume
and supple texture. Fairly low in tannin, it is
often made into rosé by itself or
blended, to brighten the fruit and tone down the
harsher edges of carignan, in particular.
Although officially sanctioned in
Châteauneuf du Pape, it is used by only a
few producers in their blends.
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Typical
Cinsault Smell and/or Flavor
Descriptors
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Varietal
Aromas/Flavors:
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Processing
Bouquets/Flavors:
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Fruit:
strawberry
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Terroir:
musk, meat
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Floral:
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Oak
(light): sweet wood,
vanilla
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Spice:
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Oak
(heavy): oak, smoke, toast,
tar
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Herbal:
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Bottle
Age:
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