Cinsault

RedVinifera red

Languedoc and Provence

Pale, soft and perfumed, with low tannin and high yields. Better understood as a rose grape that occasionally makes a red.

At harvest

Each bar drawn against the full range of all 54 varieties

Sugar

22-25 Brix

22 - 25

Titratable acidity

5-6.5 g/L

5 - 6.5

3.4-3.7

3.4 - 3.7

Juice yield

0.70 L/kg

free run plus a gentle press

Sugar per kilogram

181 g

at 23.5 Brix, the midpoint

Fruit for 23 litres

33 kg

before racking losses

Potential alcohol

12.9-14.1%

from 1.099 fermented dry. A range, because conversion varies by strain

What it punishes

Overcropping. It carries fruit readily and dilutes to nothing if you let it.

Made into

Rose
Rhone blend

Sulphite at this pH

At pH 3.55, protecting a red wine to 0.5 mg/L molecular SO2 takes 28 mg/L of free SO2. Work it out for your own reading.

Recipes on this site that use it

Pale dry rose

12 kg · 22.5 Brix · 13.4%

Picked off the midpoint on purpose

More vinifera red

23-26 Brix

Cabernet Sauvignon

Bordeaux, and now everywhere warm enough

23-25 Brix

Merlot

Right Bank Bordeaux

22-25 Brix

Cabernet Franc

Loire and Bordeaux

22-25 Brix

Pinot Noir

Burgundy

23-26 Brix

Syrah

Northern Rhone

24-27 Brix

Grenache

Southern Rhone and Spain

24-26 Brix

Mourvedre

Bandol and Spain

24-28 Brix

Zinfandel

California, and Croatia before that