In the
world of varietal red wines, a domestic Charbono is unusual. There are just 80 acres of Charbono planted
in all of California. When one considers
that there are over 290,639 acres of red wine grapes grown in the state, I can
fully understand the reaction to our producing a Charbono of ‘why bother?’. My response however is that in the southern
hemisphere Bonarda, their name for Charbono, has flourished. In Argentina it is the second most widely
planted red variety after Malbec with over 44,460 acres. There must be some merit to this grape.
Charbono’s
origin is the alpine vineyards of Savoie in eastern France where it is known as
Douce Noire. Suspicion has it that
Charbono was introduced to California under the guise of Barbera and it has had a varied and colorful history; for years it produced
wines that were mislabeled as Barbera and Pinot Noir, and these wines won
accolades and awards masquerading as these varieties. It wasn’t until 1999 and the implementation
of DNA testing that some of these mislabeled vineyards were correctly identified
as Douce Noir.
In the
1940’s Inglenook released its first Charbono, and as a child in the 1960’s
Charbono was one of the first red wines I remember gracing our dinner table. The wine made from Charbono is sturdy; it has
a dark color, and substantial extract and firm tannins. It also has solid fruit aromas of black
cherry, blueberry, and plum.
