Carinena

Carignan (Cariñena in Spain) is a black-skinned wine grape variety, most likely native to Aragon. The variety is found in wines along the Mediterranean coast, particularly in northeastern Spain and in France's Languedoc-Roussillon region. It is used most commonly for blending with many of the region's other key varieties – most famously Grenache, Syrah and Mourvedre.

Carignan prefers warm, dry climates when the grape can express high tannins, acid and color. This makes it an excellent addition to red wine blends that have plenty of aroma and flavor, but lack body and depth of color. Carignan is only rarely made as a varietal wine, but the best examples can show characteristics of dark and black fruits, pepper, licorice, and spicy and savory accents.Carignan is usually grown as bush vines, many of which are very old and require hand-harvesting as the vines' stems are too tough for machines. It is a late-ripening variety that is known to produce high yields if not properly cropped. This was once considered an attractive attribute of the grape but, as this can make it difficult to achieve good flavor concentration, it also led to it falling out of favor.

In France Carignan was the most-planted grape variety from the 1960s-2000, but huge vine-pull schemes in the 1980s nearly halved the grape's total acreage by the turn of the century. Around three-quarters of France's Carignan is located in the Languedoc-Roussillon region, where it is often produced as modest Vin de France.

However, in general Carinena is not regarded particularly highly in Spain, where it plays second fiddle to Garnacha (Grenache), which itself ranks behind Tempranillo and Cabernet Sauvignon in terms of popularity. In Spain the best Carinena wines are found in the acclaimed Priorat region. It is nowadays more widely used in Catalonia, where it is often labeled as Samsó.