Matero v Mouvedre

WINE TALK
1

What is the history here, i believe its tha same grape is it just old world name v new world name ?

2

Same same.

3

When the old guys settled in ContraCosta, from Portugal, they brought over their native Mataro and planted it in the sandy soils there in the late 1800’s. It was long known to be the same grape as the Rhône Mourvèdre.
In the mid-‘70’s, Ridge started using those CC grapes and Draper chose the historical name Mataro to label it.
As Rhône Mourvèdre started to become fashionable in the ‘80’s, most used the Mourvèdre name.
But most of the wines from CC grapes still use Mataro in deference to those old Portugese settlers. But some use Mourvèdre as well.
Tom

4

Of course, some times it’s not Mataro OR Mourvedre . . .

5

Mourvedre.

6

Good article by Matt Kettmann. The mix-up has been known for awhile, but this article might be the first time the info has come out to the wider public.

7

So its actually Graciano ?

So these Paso wines are not really Rhone style anymore, there Rhone/Spanish blends ?

8

No, graciano is unrelated, but some graciano vines in California were mislabeled as mourvedre.

Mataro (not matero) and monastrell are Spanish names for the grape in different regions there. Mourvedre is the French name.

I guess you could say that in a few cases.

Of course, if you subscribe to the widely held view that mourvedre/mataro/monastrell originated in Spain (or at least the first European plantings were there), then you might consider all GSM blends to be party Spanish.

9

Mataro is Spanish, too, John? Not Portuguese?

10

?

That’s what I was saying – mataro is one of the Spanish names for the grape and monastrell is another.

11

Graciano ≠ Mataro

Graciano ≠ Morrastel

Mataro = Monastrell = Mourvèdre

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• The Wikipedia page for “Mourvèdre” covers the issue of confused associations between Graciano and Mataro/Monastrell/Mourvèdre:

https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Mourvèdre


• UC Davis’ Foundation Plant Services entry on “Mourvèdre”, including synonyms:

“Common Synonyms: Mataró, Mataro, Monastrell;
All Synonyms: Alcallata, Alcayata, Alicante, Arach Sap, Baltazar, Balthazar, Balzac, Balzac noir, Balzar, Benada, Benadu, Beneda, Beni Carlo, Berardi, Bod, Bon Avis, Buona Vise, Casca, Catalan, Cayata, Caymilari Sarda, Charnet, Churret, Clairett noire, Damas noir, Drug, English Colossal, Espagnen, Espar, Esparte, Estrangle-Chien, Etrangle-Chien, Flouron, Flouroux, Garrut, Gayata tinta, Karis, Maneschaou, Marseillais, Mataró, Mataro, Maurostel, Monastre, Monastrell, Monastrell Menudo, Monastrell Verdadero, Morastell, Morrastel, Morvegue, Mourvede, Mourvedon, Mourvegue, Mourves, Mourveze, Murvedr, Murviedro, Negre Trinciera, Negria, Negron, Neyron, Piemonaise, Pinot Fleri, Plant de Ledenon, Plant de Saint Gilles, Reina, Ros, Rossola negra, Rossola nera, Spar, Tinta, Tintilla, Tinto, Tire Droit, Torrentes, Trinchiera, Verema, Veremeta, Vereneta”


• France’s PlantGrape entry for “Mourvedre”:

“There is no officially recognized synonym for this variety in France. In the European Union, Mourvèdre N can officially be called by other names: ‘Mataro’ (Cyprus), ‘Monastrell’ (Spain) and ‘Kaldaretta’ (Malta).”


• [u]Twentieth Century Borrowings from French to English: Their Reception and Development[/u] review of “Mourvedre”


• Spanish place-name root of “Mataro”


• Succinct etymology of the various monikers assigned to “Mourvèdre”:

“Monastrell is grown in several parts of Spain and in France. While its true origin is not known, it first became established in Cataluña where it took on the names ‘Mourvèdre’ (after ‘Muviedro’, the Moorish name for the city of Sagunto, near Valencia) and Mataró (after ‘Mataró’ in Cataluña). In Cataluña the grape was grown by monasteries, leading to the name ‘Monastrell’ (from the Latin ‘monasteriellu’) in that region.”


• Another review of the names associated with Monastrell:

“This wine is produced near Valencia (and indeed that’s the official name that this wine carries on its label), and this southeastern segment of the Spanish coast checks all of the climatic boxes on Monastrell’s wish list, and then some. And the name(s) tell the full story…Monastrell (whose etymology seems rooted in the tem ‘monastary’) has two common aliases. One of these A.K.A.s is ‘Mourvedre’, (as the grape is known in southern France), a name which bears a very strong similarity to the name of a little town near Valencia called Murviedro where the grape still thrives. The other common alias for this vine is ‘Mataro’, and the name by which Monastrell typically goes in California, which also happens to be the name of another town a bit further up on the Catalan coast, and another area in which the grape excels to this day.”


• Jancis Robinson website’s entry for “Morrastel”:

“Rare Languedoc variety that is also Rioja’s Graciano. The name has also been used in Spain as a synonym for Monastrell (Mourvèdre). In North Africa the name Morrastel is used for both Graciano and Mourvèdre.”


• UC Davis’ Foundation Plant Services entry on “Morrastel”, including synonyms:

“Morrastel is the main French synonym for Rioja’s Graciano and is also a synonym in Spain for Mourvèdre. Morrastel Bouschet, which is a separate cross, is sometimes called Morrastel in Southern France.”


• France’s PlantGrape entry for “Morrastel”:

“There is no officially recognized synonym for this variety in France.In the European Union, Morrastel N can officially be called by other names: ‘Cagnulari N’ (Italy), ‘Cagniulari’ (Italy), ‘Graciano’ (Spain, Malta), ‘Tintilla de Rota’ (Spain) and ‘Tinta Miuda’ (Portugal).”


• UC Davis’ Foundation Plant Services entry on “Graciano”, including synonyms:

“Common Synonyms: Morrastel, Tinta Miuda;
All Synonyms: Bastardo Nero, Bois Dur, Bordelais, Cagliunari, Cagnonale, Cagnovali Nero, Cagnulari, Cagnulari Bastardo, Cagnulari Sardo, Cagnulatu, Caldareddu, Caldarello, Cargo Muol, Courouillade, Couthurier, Drug, Graciana, Graciano Tinto, Grosse Negrette, Jerusano, Karis, Matarou, Minostello, Minustello, Monastel, Monestaou, Morastel, Morestel, Morrastel, Mourastel, Perpignan, Perpignanou Bois Dur, Plant de Ledenon, Tinta de Rotilla, Tinta de Rota, Tinta do Padre Antonio, Tinta Miuda, Tintilla, Uva Cagnelata, Xeres, Zinzillosa”


• France’s PlantGrape search results for “Graciano”:

“2 Results for ‘Graciano’:
‘Grand Noir de la Calmette N’ and ‘Morrastel N’”

I blame France for the confusion, as well as Spain. France’s PlantGrape website is a great complementary site to America’s FPS database, yet one cannot ignore the fact that FPS recognizes “Graciano” and “Morrastel” as distinct grape varieties; PlantGrape does not.


Most to the point, I doubt anyone would confuse the taste of the two grapes were they in glasses side by side… :wink:

12

I am still perusing the Spanish resources, so I may add still more information soon…

• Spain Gourmetour #67
“Spain: A Garden of Grape Varieties”
by AndrĂŠs Proensa
May/August 2006

“… Modern Riojas sought strength, fruit, structure, and vigo while determinedly eschewing any foreign input. Graciano was re-discovered in the process: this relatively unproductive native variety, with a long growing cycle that makes full ripeness difficult to achieve, nevertheless provides sound tannins, lively acidity, and intense, stable color as well as distinctive aromatic features. All this qualified it to be the great defensive weapon against Cabernet Sauvignon.”

The article also covers the emergence of dry/non-fortified, sub-16% abv Monastrell into the international market via the work of individuals like Agapito Rico of Carchelo, the first producer of a Spanish Monastrell I tasted.

It should be mentioned that this piece includes (for numerous varieties) photographs of a grape cluster on the vine, its corresponding name, and dots on a map of Spain indicating where the variety is currently grown. Graciano, Monastrell, and Moristel are separately featured in these graphics.

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iMiDRA is an acronym for “Instituto Madrileño de Investigación y Desarrollo Rural, Agrario y Alimentario” (more or less, “Madrid Institute of Research and Rural Development, Agriculture and Nutrition” in English). I really must say that the Database is very broad in its scope, and I wish I had discovered its existence sooner! :astonished:

The Collection: “The Collection of Grape Varieties of El Encín (El Encín’s Vine Varieties Collection) is the biggest in Spain; it consists of 3,532 accesions. The aim of this collection is to research, preserve, identify and evaluate the genus ‘Vitis’.”

History: “Its origin dates back to 1893, at the Haro Viticulture and Enology Station (the Viti-culture and Oenology Center in Haro) .In 1950 the collection was moved to the El Encín Estate (Alcalá de Henares) and since 1984 it has come under Madrid’s regional government.”

The Data Base: “The database has information about the different vine varieties in the collection. It includes 207 bundles of paper from 1914, 670 descriptions made in 1956 and more than 3,000 accessions described and photo- graphed since 2000, including microsatellites.”


• iMiDRA website’s Grape Data Base results for “Graciano”


• iMiDRA website’s Grape Data Base results for “Moristel”


• iMiDRA website’s Grape Data Basen results for “Monastrell”
2220_foto2000.pdf (73.8 KB)
I hope that Spanish wine and grape aficionados make good use of the abundance of information on this cool website!!!

13

BTW, iMiDRA doesn’t have anything for “Morrastel” in its Database.

14

Mataro and Mourvèdre have nothing to do with new world / old world. The grape comes from Spain. It’s thought to be quite ancient, but who really knows. It was widely planted in the south. When the kingdom of Aragon ruled much of the southern area that is now part of Spain and France respectively, there were a number of grapes introduced into France. Those included Monastrell and Cariñena and Garnacha, which are popular grapes among the so-called “Rhone Rangers”, which in turn are a bunch of California wine makers who like Spanish grapes.

Mataro was the name of a Spanish town. So was Murviedre. The grape may have received its names from those towns. It was distributed before people knew about DNA and clones and such, so they just called it whatever or wherever it came from. Or not.

There’s no reason to call it one thing or another in the US. The best idea would probably be to call it by its most common Spanish name, but people who know wine associate it with France and that would make them feel bad, so we use the French name.

Only we don’t. I’ve heard many people call it “more ved”. OTOH, making it an American word by substituting poorly pronounced French might be the best approach. After all, we call the head waiter the “master of”.

Graciano has nothing to do with it, as the posts above point out. There wasn’t much varietal Graciano bottled in Spain until very very recently. Was even less bottled in the US because people didn’t know what they had. Both are generally blending grapes in Spain, although not with each other, since they generally aren’t grown nearby.

15

Agree - it’s very weird to confuse Mourvèdre with graciano, because the resulting wines are nothing alike. Mourvèdres are often rich, quite tannic, somewhat gamey and more sweetly-fruited with rather low acidity and high alcohol. Gracianos are pretty much the polar opposite: lean, dry, crunchy, often surprisingly bitter and often failing to reach particularly high acidity.

I read somewhere that Graciano is regainin popularity in Rioja because of the climate getting warmer - historically it really didn’t make sense to grow the finicky and low-yielding Graciano, because the wines were already dry, high in acidity and low in alcohol. Now when the acidity levels are dropping and alcohol levels soaring, some Graciano provides some very welcome balance in the mix.

16

I believe we may see more late-ripening varieties as things warm up in the Mediterranean and its latitudes in addition to Spain’s Graciano.

Perhaps the lesser known/utilized Chateauneuf-du-Pape will get more attention from vignerons…

In 1989 and 2004 was the percentages of the different varieties in Chateauneuf du Pape:

Variety:

Grenache
79.25 (% 1989)
72.00 (% 2004)

Syrah
5.66 (% 1989)
10.50 (% 2004)

Mourvedre
4.76 (% 1989)
7.00 (% 2004)

Cinsault
3.33 (% 1989)
2.50 (% 2004)

Clairette
2.34 (% 1989)
2.50 (% 2004)

Grenache Blanc
2.02 (% 1989)
2.00 (% 2004)

Bourboulenc
1.02 (% 1989)
1.00 (% 2004)

Roussanne
0.50 (% 1989)
1.20 (% 2004)

Counoise
0.43 (% 1989)
0.50 (% 2004)

Muscardin
0.33 (% 1989)
0.40 (% 2004)

Vaccarese
0.13 (% 1989)
0.15 (% 2004)

Picpoul
0.11 (% 1989)
0.15 (% 2004)

Picardan
0.10 (% 1989)
0.05 (% 2004)

Terret Noir
0.02 (% 1989)
0.05 (% 2004)


Source: Federation des Syndicat de Producteurs de Chateauneuf du Pape

Don’t rule out more real Mourvèdre in the future, however! :wink:

Sure, if you have been dealt the “Graciano card”, compliments of Sunridge Nursery, you are not going to uproot everything and replant to Mourvèdre, but I still have faith in the future of my favorite grape!

17

& Mataro

18

Also called Mataro in Australia and has been since it was first planted there in the 1800s. Not sure of the origins of the settlers that planted it, but I doubt they were French, Spanish or Portuguese.

19

I read somewhere that Graciano is regainin popularity in Rioja because of the climate getting warmer - historically it really didn’t make sense to grow the finicky and low-yielding Graciano, because the wines were already dry, high in acidity and low in alcohol.

I’m not sure it’s so much global warming as it is a general re-alignment in Rioja. There was probably more Graciano pre-phylloxera although it’s hard to say. The problem is that it’s late ripening and with the Atlantic climate, people are always concerned with losing grapes. It wasn’t even used by all producers.

The champion for many years was Jesus Madrazo at Contino, who was reputed to have the best block of Graciano in the area. He did a monovarietal bottling for many years and it wasn’t cheap, but it was good. It did get attention from other producers and perhaps has something to do with the nascent popularity of the grape, but it’s still a very small part of the overall acreage.

Now that people have better management in the vineyards, they’re able to grow and use more Graciano and more people are doing monovarietal bottlings. That’s mostly since the early 2000s. It’s still generally the last grape harvested, so is still susceptible to early frosts, but as people are more interested in vineyard designations, I think there will be more of it coming out.

Monastrell however, isn’t likely to be done in Rioja.

20

The confusion is that in the posted article that a lot of people thought they were getting Mourvedre in Paso actually got Graciano. So its not the same grape they just got it in place of that grape