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Torres discovers new grape variety

Torres has unveiled a new grape variety. For the last 20 years the Penedes based wine producer has been trying to preserve native Catalan varieties. The revived grape Querol which is named after the village where it was found makes it debut in the Torres wine Grans Muralles. It takes around 6 years cleaning plant material before a new grape can be used. Querol is a distinct variety, rather than synonym or clonal variation of any previously recorded grape.

Miguel A Torres, president of Torres, says it was not an easy grape to cultivate. The flowers do not produce enough pollen so you have millerandage, which makes the grapes more concentrated with very low yields.

The variety has now made its first commercial appearance as a 15% component of the blend – alongside Garnacha Tinta, Cariñena, Monastrell and Garró – in the producer’s Grans Muralles 2009, which has just been released.

The discovery of Querol came just too late for inclusion in Wine Grapes, a detailed compendium of 1,386 wine grape varieties by Julia Harding MW, José Vouillamoz and Jancis Robinson MW, which was published last year.