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That Useful Wine Site

  Wine explained, clearly and helpfully, including critic-recommended specimens of each variety.

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The Cinsaut Grape


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About Cinsaut

(Synonyms: Black Malvoisie, Black Prince, Blue Imperial, Cinqsaut, Cinq-saou, Cinsault, Grecau, Grecu Masculinu, Hermitage, Marrouquin, Ottavianello, Picardan Noir, Piquepoul D’Uzes, Prunelat, Prunelas, Samsó, Sinsóo, Sinsóon, Sinseur, Uva Spina)

Pronunciation: san-SO  [also commonly spelled Cinsault, but pronounced the same]

Background

Map showing he Hérault region of France

Cinsaut (often rendered as Cinsault) is a red-wine grape apparently originating in the Hérault area of the Languedoc-Roussillon region of France, though it could ultimately have come from farther away (the eastern Mediterranean). Nowadays, it is grown primarily (but not exclusively) in the Languedoc-Roussillon area of France, northern Africa (notably Algeria), South Africa, Chile, and the U.S. (particularly around Lodi). Its growth habit is such that it is especially well suited for hot, dry climates (hence its use in North Africa and even Lebanon).

Cinsaut wines tend to be quite fruit-forward, strongly aromatic, lightly tinted, and of medium body and weight: “pretty”, as Jancis Robinson describes them. The usual taste descriptors involve the lighter-red berry family. It tends to be low in tannins, and is usually best drunk while young.

Factoid: Cinsaut was formerly known in South Africa as “Hermitage”; under that name, it became one of the two parent grapes (the other being Pinot Noir) of that country’s now well-known Pinotage varietal.

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Some Descriptions of Cinsaut Wines

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Some Cinsault Bottlings to Try

(About this list.)

  Wines with a critics’ consensus score of 94:
Ungrafted Old Vines Cinsault   [or search Cellar Tracker for this wine]

  Wines with a critics’ consensus score of 91:
Garage Wine Co. "Single Ferment Series" "The Soothsayer's Ferment" Cinsault   [or search Cellar Tracker for this wine]

  Wines with a critics’ consensus score of 90:
Natte Valleij Cinsault   [or search Cellar Tracker for this wine]
Pedro Parra "Imaginador"   [or search Cellar Tracker for this wine]

  Wines with a critics’ consensus score of 89:
De Martino "Gallardia del Itata" Cinsault   [or search Cellar Tracker for this wine]
Mother Rock "Force Celeste" Cinsault   [or search Cellar Tracker for this wine]

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This page was last modified on Friday, 20 December 2024, at 10:46 pm Pacific Time.