Thursday 24 December 2009

Mataro

Mataro (mat-ahr-roh) is another variety from southern Europe, and needs more warmth than Grenache. In Spain it is also called Monastrell or Morastell. In France, apart from small plantings under the name of Balzac in the Cognac area, where the fruit does not ripen properly, it is confined to the warmest areas of Provence, where it is called Mourvedre. It was a very successful variety in Algeria but it is not clear how much of the 20 000 ha formerly planted has survived. There are about 264 ha in California. The 1092 ha in Australia are in South Australia, New South Wales and Victoria. The name Balzac is used at Corowa, and at Great Western the variety is called Esparte.