Written by Christina Pickard for Wine Enthusiast. July 11, 2019.

‍Once upon a time, in a land down under, there lived a grape so unpopular that winemakers would often pretend it didn’t exist. They tucked it into blends. They hid it behind its more famous big brother, Shiraz. They even wiped it from labels so that it wouldn’t be noticed by those whose fondness lied elsewhere.

But this particular grape happens to be a fighter. One of Australia’s original plantings, it was the nation’s most widely grown variety for more than a century, and its presence dominated the base blends of fortified wines that fueled the early Australian wine industry. Perhaps most impressively, it even survived the mid-1980s government scheme to pay growers for ripping out century-old vines.

This historic grape is Grenache, and its place in Aussie wine has become undeniable. Its story, however, is still being written.

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