Alicante Bouschet

This is a teinturier or red fleshed grape (many red varieties aren't) and so makes deeply coloured wines. Bred in the mid-1800s by Henri Bouschet its tendency to produce dark wines earned great popularity and it became widely planted mainly in the south of France. Not so widespread these days it's still found in its homeland in Languedoc-Roussillon and has spread significantly across the Pyrenees into Spain and Portugal where it's cultivated with a good deal of success in the Alentejo region.