Garnacha Tintorera (Alicante Bouschet)

Known in Spain as Garnacha Tintorera, the variety carries the VIVC prime name Alicante Henri Bouschet, variety number 304, and its berry skin is noir. It was bred by Henri Bouschet, and its parents are Petit Bouschet and Grenache, a pedigree confirmed by DNA markers. It most likely originated in France, which VIVC records as its country of origin. In WineWiki's VIVC-derived lineage data, Grenache lists Garnacha Tintorera and Marselan as its children, which makes them half-siblings.

• VIVC prime name: Alicante Henri Bouschet; VIVC variety number 304; berry skin: noir
• Country of origin: France (likely)
• Parents: Petit Bouschet x Grenache, confirmed by DNA markers
• Breeder: Henri Bouschet
• Half-sibling through Grenache: Marselan (WineWiki's VIVC-derived lineage data)

The vine breeder Henri Bouschet produced Garnacha Tintorera in the late 19th century by crossing Petit Bouschet with Grenache. It was once widely used to tint dilute southern French table wine, especially Aramon, and today it is found in Spain, Portugal and well beyond. At Herdade do Mouchão in the Alentejo, Alicante Bouschet arrived in the late 1800s, when two professors from Montpellier visited the estate with cuttings of the new teinturier variety. The estate's Vinha da Dourada, shown on an 1894 map, already included Alicante Bouschet.

• Bred by Henri Bouschet in the late 19th century, crossing Petit Bouschet with Grenache
• Once widely used to tint dilute southern French table wine, especially Aramon
• Herdade do Mouchão's Vinha da Dourada, shown on an 1894 map, already included Alicante Bouschet

Garnacha Tintorera is found in Corsica, Tuscany, Calabria in southern Italy, the Balkans, Israel, North Africa, California, Portugal and Spain. In Spain's DO Almansa, Bodega Tintoralba is based in the village of Higueruela in Albacete, where its vineyards sit above 1,000 meters on shallow, sandy limestone soils with extreme temperatures in summer and winter. Bodegas Piqueras calls Garnacha Tintorera one of the most representative varieties of the Almansa area. In Portugal's Alentejo, Herdade do Mouchão holds that Alicante Bouschet expresses itself best in hot, dry climates and favors deep, fertile, well-drained alluvial soils like those of the estate's river flats.

• DO Almansa: Bodega Tintoralba's Higueruela vineyards sit above 1,000 meters on shallow, sandy limestone soils
• Almansa: Bodegas Piqueras's Los Losares plot takes its name from the natural limestone slabs that cover its soil
• Alentejo: Herdade do Mouchão holds that Alicante Bouschet favors deep, fertile, well-drained alluvial soils like those of its river flats
• Also found in Corsica, Tuscany, Calabria, the Balkans, Israel, North Africa and California

A red-fleshed grape, Garnacha Tintorera was once widely used to tint dilute southern French table wine. Jancis Robinson sums up its wine as "gutsy but short". In Almansa, Bodega Tintoralba describes its wines as intense and markedly fruity.

• Red-fleshed, and historically a tinting grape for dilute wine
• Dark berry skin as well as red flesh

A red-fleshed grape, Garnacha Tintorera was once widely used to tint dilute southern French table wine, especially Aramon. In Almansa, Bodegas Piqueras makes Los Losares Garnacha Tintorera, 100% Garnacha Tintorera, from its Los Losares plot, home to the family's oldest ungrafted vines of Garnacha Tintorera and Monastrell, and ages it in 300-liter French Allier oak barrels.

• Historically a tinting grape, used to color dilute wine
• Old ungrafted vines: Bodegas Piqueras's Los Losares plot holds the family's oldest ungrafted Garnacha Tintorera and Monastrell
• Barrel size: Los Losares Garnacha Tintorera ages in 300-liter French Allier oak barrels

Bodegas Piqueras, an Almansa winery dating to 1915 and now in its fourth generation, makes Los Losares Garnacha Tintorera as a 100% Garnacha Tintorera from the plot that holds its oldest ungrafted vines. Bodega Tintoralba makes Garnacha Tintorera in Higueruela, within DO Almansa, from vineyards above 1,000 meters. At Herdade do Mouchão in Portugal's Alentejo, about half the grapes produced on the estate are Alicante Bouschet, and the estate's Vinha da Dourada already included the variety on an 1894 map.

• Bodegas Piqueras (Almansa, since 1915): Los Losares Garnacha Tintorera, 100% Garnacha Tintorera, from the plot holding the family's oldest ungrafted vines
• Bodega Tintoralba (Higueruela, DO Almansa): Garnacha Tintorera from vineyards above 1,000 meters
• Herdade do Mouchão (Alentejo, Portugal): Alicante Bouschet in the Vinha da Dourada by 1894

Bodegas Piqueras suggests its Los Losares Garnacha Tintorera with risottos, rice dishes, roasts, red meats and semi-cured cheeses.

• Roasts, red meats, semi-cured cheeses, risottos and rice dishes: the matches suggested for Los Losares Garnacha Tintorera

Primary sources: https://www.vivc.de/index.php?r=passport%2Fview&id=304 ; https://mouchao.pt/vinha/ ; https://tintoralba.com/ ; https://bodegaspiqueras.com/ ; https://bodegaspiqueras.com/vinos/coleccion-los-losares/ Reference sources: https://www.jancisrobinson.com/learn/grape-varieties/red/alicante-bouschet Last verified 2026-10-27