Charbono- My new favorite grape

[maygoddess]

Hey all! Has anyone tried a grape called Charbono? I went to a tasting last month and someone brought a bottle of this from Chameleon Cellars. From what he said, there is less than 50 acres of this grape planted worldwide. Very nice! If you like Red Zin, Pinot Noir, Sirah..it falls into that range. Very nice, low tannin, cherries, deep red...sorry cannot come up with better descriptors on this one..but I looked into getting more of it..looks like I could only find on their website.

Anyone else familiar with this grape? I think I am in love!

Patty

[Kcwhippet]

Had a few - some better than others. Robert Foley was really good. Hecker Pass Winery was drinkable. It's hard to believe there's only 50 acres in all CA.

[Bucko]

There were 77 acres planted in CA per the 2004 grape acreage report.

Robert Foley is doing the best job with the grape currently, IMHO. Solid B wine.

[Kcwhippet]

Be still my heart! Bucko and I agree on a wine!

[Innkeeper]

Back in the sixties and early seventies when we first got deep down into wine, there was more Charbono and Charbono producers around, and we enjoyed them thoroughly. Too bad it doesn't fit into the mass marketing picture.

A warm welcome to the Board Patty. Hope you stay around.

[winoweenie]

Hi Patty and add my welcome to the board also-too. Someone gave you some poor info as there are lots of Charbono vines planted in Italy, So. France and other places on the continent. Agree on the Foley. WW

[maygoddess]

Hey all! Thanks for the welcome! I will have to find the Robert Foley. Must be 50 acres nationwide..which I believe really means California only.

I have had Pacific Star Winery recently out of Mendocino and the Chameleon Cellars one now several times as I just purchased some from their website. I will hunt down others to compare!

[brappy]

I have both the Shypoke and Flowers Charbono in the cellar. I love it. Don't know the ageability of the wine but drinking beautifully now.

[Thomas]

There's a lot of confusion over the name of this grape. Some believe Charbono is the same as the Bonarda grape of parts of Italy. But Bonarda is also suspect in other parts of Italy as actually being Dolcetto. Bonarda also grows in South America, but it could be Dolcetto or Charbono [img]http://www.wines.com/ubb2/wink.gif[/img]

Apparently, dna hasn't been performed to clear the confusion.

I remember Charbono from Inglenook in the 1970s--good stuff back then.

[jmcginley1]

I had Shypoke's recently, and I liked it. A bit oaky, but not out of balance.