Designation for dark grape varieties or so-called colouring grapes. These grapes have a red pulp, as opposed to the usually light or grey pulp of most red wine grapes. This means that the anthocyanins are not only present in the berry skins, but also inside the berries and thus also in the grape juice in larger quantities. Since the colour pigments are present in the entire plant tissue, the leaves also turn red relatively early. The majority of Färber grapes are used to produce cover wines, and only a small number of them are used to produce wines of their own variety. Such grapes became popular in France, especially from the mid-19th century onwards, to give colour to pale, pigment-poor red wines. In most cases, less than five percent of the cover wine in a cuvée is sufficient to meet this requirement. Such a small amount is sufficient for the colour change, but on the other hand, it is small enough not to cause any unwanted impairment of the taste.
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