Petit Bouschet

Have you ever tried to get from an Andes mountain gap to Antananarivo, Madagascar.? It's not easy, but we wanted to drink wine from Madagascar. After using every internet search tool available, the fastest trip we found was going to take about 42 hours, so with our unlimited grape of the day budget, we chartered an Airbus 350 to make the flight. We changed planes in Johannesburg, South Africa because there aren't exactly any large landing strips on Madagascar. After landing, we drove 8 hours south into the highlands of this island off the eastern coast of Africa to the regional capital of Fianarantsoa.

The weather here is quite tropical. Summers are hot with nighttime lows often above 20C/68F and daytime highs frequently above 35C/95F. It rains frequently during the summer, but winters are generally somewhat dry.

Madgascar is home to the red-bellied lemurs of the world. They're adorably playful animals to watch as they go about their daily business. The island is also endemic to hundreds of bird species rarely found anywhere else in the world. 

We're here today to sample local wine from a French teinturier (grapes with both red skin and red pulp) grape called Petit Bouschet. You may recall that early on our journey, we drank Alicante Bouschet; Petit Bouschet is one of the grapes from which Alicante was bred.

What's so special about teinturier grapes? Because of the red color of the pulp, they naturally produce red juice. This means that they need little skin contact in order to produce red wine. It also produces high yields which is good for a small wine growing region, but tends not to produce intense wines. The bad news is that the vines are particularly subject to something called basal shoots. Essentially, they have growths on the vines that starve the grapes of needed nutrition and water. Think of it as a grape cancer.

As we taste our Petit Bouschet, we find a resemblance to Pinot Noir, but without the character. Likely due to the heat in Madagascar, the aromas and flavors are dark fruit with a bit of Asian spice. 

Pair your Petit Bouschet with chanfana, a Portuguese lamb stew also served on Madagascar or with cumin-based dishes.

When we finally taste the wine, 




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