Carignan

Also known as: Cariñena (Spain), Carignano (Italy), Mazuelo (Rioja)

Carignan was long France’s most widely planted grape variety – and was considered a mass producer for cheap country wine. This history is both true and not true. On young vines with high yields, Carignan is indeed banal. But old vines, often over 80 years old, on poor soils with minimal yields, show a different side: concentrated wines with firm structure and mineral depth.

In Priorat, Carignan – called Carinyena there – has found its place as an equal partner to Garnacha. Terroir al Limit and The Nin Ortiz Family work with parcels whose vines are sometimes over a century old. In Roussillon, Roc des Anges and Matassa show what happens when you take this grape variety seriously rather than dismissing it.