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Label: Parducci at one time called a Pinot Noir.

One of the biggest questions that come to me is what to expect from a particular grape. That is sometimes tied to another question that is common, where did this grape come from?

There are cases where the origin of a particular grape produced a different taste when we compare with the more recent areas of production. This is exemplified by the Bonarda grape from Italy.

The Bonarda grape, also called the Bonarda Piedmontese, was a grape that was widely planted in the Piedmont area of Italy alongside the Sangiovese grapes. Over the years, Bonarda, and the related grapes of Bonarda Novarese have drastically dwindled to becoming rare even in Italy.

This grape was widely used to blend with the big red Barbera grape. The qualities of the Bonarda grape were so floral and light-fruited it would bring a balance to the heavy Barbera flavor. It was prized so much as a blending grape that it acquired Italian region and city names to distinguish the blends made by the local wineries.

While at one time, the Bonarda plantings constituted over 30 percent of the total vines in Italy, there are only a few wineries left that use it to blend their red wines.

In Argentina, there is a confusion of the use of Bonarda. It has been discovered that while the plantings of what Argentina growers say is the Bonarda is not that grape at all. What they have planted is the Douce Noir grape.

The Argentine mistake of Bonarda has developed into a cult following.


While they used the Douce Noir from France and not the actual Bonarda Piedmontese, the Mendoza growers have produced excellent wines with this grape that I would compare with the finest Chianti Classico wines from Italy.

There are some similarities with the Bonarda and the Douce Noir. Both are lighter with more pronounced floral bouquet and plum-like fruitiness. Both wines were primarily used as blending grapes.

A part of the reason for the cult following of the Douce Noir is because of the confusion it caused in California. The growers in Napa at the Parducci and Inglenook were making this into what they called a Barbera. Some of the growers actually thought this grape was a Pinot Noir that was ripening later than the rest of the region. But, the viticulture was determined in 1941 by researchers at the University of California, Davis that it wasn't Barbera that Inglenook was winning awards with, it was Douce Noir, only they called the grape Charbono.

The differences between the Douce Noir/Charbono and the Bonarda are heavier tannins with the Charbono, a more black fruit flavor like cassis versus a sweet red plum with the Bonarda. The Douce Noir/Charbono will, when aged in oak, bring out leather and tar characteristics. Some blends have been known to age for more than 15 years with the Charbono wines from California and improve nicely.

While the old-school Bonarda from Italy is disappearing from the wine world, there are makers of the Bonarda in Argentina (mislabeling the grape used) producing excellent wines at very reasonable prices. While what they called the Bonarda in Argentina once was the most common grape planted, it is fast being replaced by the Malbec and Cabernet Sauvignon grapes.

I would recommend buying it by the case and cellaring some for later trading because of the cult-like attraction to these Argentine wines.

If you are shopping for a Charbono from California, look for a warmer inland vineyard with a longer growing season. These grapes need a long growing season to fully ripen or they will tend to have a leafy-like quality.

I found a bottle by Antonio Vallana that blended Bonarda with Nebbiolo and Vespolina that was very nice. I found out they use cement fermentation vessels and hand-pick all three varieties for this particular blend. The wine sold for $29.

The pure varietals of Bonarda from Argentina were considerably lower priced, even the "Reserva" wines I found. There were 4 brands at a larger Albuquerque wine store where none were over $18.

As with the California use of the grape Charbono, there are a number of options. With the 100% Charbono wines, I suggest to start with the Inglenook because those are some of the oldest vines in the US.  Expect to pay a little more for the Napa wines. But the California wineries are blending with Petite Syrah, Cabernet Sauvignon and Zinfandel. On one online source, I found a blend with Chenin Blanc in a sparkling wine and a Charbono rosŽ that comes from Russian River that begs to be tried.