The Counoise Grape

(Synonyms: Coneze, Connoges, Connoise, Counèse, Counoïse, Counïso, Counoueiso, Guélnoise, Quenoise, Rivier.)

Background

Counoise is a red-wine grape originating in the Rhône Valley region of France, which remains its primary source. But that is as a blending grape: monovarietal bottlings in France are few, but there is a surge of interest in the grape on the west coast, notably in both California and Washington State, and quite a number of good (but pricey and scarce) monovarietal bottlings are coming from there.

Counoise is another of the many grapes traditionally used chiefly or wholly as components of blends, but now attracting some attention as an interesting monovarietal. When made with appropriate care, it makes a light- to medium-bodied wine with moderate alcohol and tannin levels and a flavor usually described as “peppery”, overlain with spice and red-fruit flavors; it is typically a bracingly acidic wine, and so goes well with food. It is not unlike a Beaujolais or Gamay, but somewhat spicier.

Counoise too often fails to get the respect it deserves as a monovarietal. As you will see farther down the page, it is hard to find monovarietal bottlings in the U.S. market (there are quite a few of them, but they are scarce and not inexpensive). That is a great shame, because it can stand tall on its own, and more people need to realize that.

Factoid: Counoise is sometimes confused with the Aubun grape, in good part because it was once common to have the two grown together in "field blends"; but Aubun is considered distinctly lower in quality than Counoise.

Some Descriptions of Counoise Wines

Wikipedia
“Counoise adds a peppery note and good acidity to a blended red wine, but does not have much depth of colour or tannin.”
Wine Searcher
“Counoise is often described as a peppery and spicy grape variety, but it also adds much in the way of plum and wild berry (strawberry and raspberry) flavors. Secondary notes of anise and licorice have also been described in some varietal examples. Counoise is mostly used in blends because the variety lacks deep color, strong tannins and potential alcohol. However, it does provide good acidity and in Provence it is used to make crisp and lively rosé wine, while in California there is an increasing trend towards producing varietal Counoise wines.”
Palate Press
“Counoise, when consumed on its own, is a fruit-forward wine with a plum and garnet color, boasting hints of cherry and raspberry, soft tannins, medium acidity, and an earthy finish. A lack of strong tannins and oxidative tendencies make it better for early drinking than long aging.”
Exalted Rations
“I’d thumbnail sketch [Counoise] to you as a sort of sophisticated, cool-site California Pinot Noir made by a European winemaker, or more esoterically, but perhaps more accurately, like a good Austrian St. Laurent.”
World’s Best Wines
“Some [mono]varietals give tastes of liquorice and anise. The low colour and alcohol content of the grape makes it less usable for [mono]varietals. The acidic level of the wines made from Counoise grape is high. This is the reason it is widely used in France to make crisp wines. California is carrying on experiments on the varietals to make wines other than rose wines which are popularly sold in the area.”
Jancis Robinson
“Occasionally encountered as a peppery, dusty varietal that is usefully high in acid.”
Palm and Vine
“This varietal tends towards notes of peppery spice, strawberry, energetic floral fruits, and vibrant acidity…When it comes to red wine, I definitely favor a lighter red. While I have nothing against big, bold reds, I feel lighter reds are so much more nuanced. Lighter reds can still be so complex in their simplicities and it takes a skillful winemaker to allow a naturally lighter red varietal to sing on its own.”
The Rhone Rangers
“It is a deep purple-red, and has a rich spicy character, with flavors of anise, strawberries and blueberries.”

Some Counoises to Try

Well there isn’t one: there are simply no Counoise bottlings (that the wine search engines could find) that are both reasonably priced ($20 or less) and reasonably available. We found only five that are under $20 (a couple of those are actually at $20), but none of those are carried by more than one or two retailers (again, per the search engines, though there are doubtless many smaller shops that don’t list on the engines).

What we think is interesting is the number of offerings in the over-$20 range: fifteen of those (most or all from California and Washington State). So many upscale offerings of a wine with few moderately priced samples suggests that Counoise is suddenly a hot, hot, hot prestige wine. Let’s hope that more reasonably priced examples start coming soon.

We did include a “splurge” wine that is not wildly pricey and has good reviews, so if you can stand to pop a little, you can at least sample a presumably good specimen of the variety.

For a Splurge

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This page was last modified on Tuesday, 22 December 2020, at 8:44 pm Pacific Time.

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