The red grape variety (also California S 8, Rubyred, Tintoria) is an interspecific new variety between Alicante Ganzin x Tinto Cão. It contains genes from Vitis rupestris and Vitis vinifera. The hybrid was crossed in 1938 at the California Agricultural Experiment Station by the breeder Harold P. Olmo (1909-2006). At the same time, the quite similar Royalty with the same mother variety was created here, both varieties were then released together in 1958. The high-yielding vine is moderately resistant to powdery mildew and particularly resistant to botrytis. It yields dark-coloured red wines of a simpler character with a cassis aroma, but is excellent as a teinturier (colouring grape). It is also used for the production of table grapes and grape juice. In the USA, it is grown exclusively in California, mainly in the Central Valley, where it occupies a total of 4,825 hectares of vineyards. Small populations also exist in Australia (90 ha) and Mexico. In 2016, a total of 4,916 hectares of vineyard area were designated. This puts it in 115th place in the global grape variety ranking (Kym Anderson statistics).
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Thorsten Rahn
Restaurantleiter, Sommelier, Weindozent und Autor; Dresden