Durif

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Durif (or Duriff) is a minor variety of red wine grape grown in France, California and Australia. It is definitely one of the grapes known as the Petite Sirah variety which is extensively planted in California, although other analysis has shown that in vineyards with the most reliable planting records it may only be one of three distinct varieties known collectively as "Petite Sirah".

The grape is named after Francois Durif, who discovered it in a vineyard near the University of Montpellier, where he was a botanist.^[1] The first vine was grown from a grape extracted from a Peloursin berry, though it was not discovered until 1997 when DNA tests run at the University of California, Davis that the original pollen source was from Syrah^[2].

The U.S. Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco and Firearms allows either Petite Sirah or Durif to be used on U.S. wine labels.

Confirmed as recently as 1997, old plantings of Durif continued to be used to produce popular wine in the Rutherglen, Victoria region of Australia. Durif is now being used in many other wine regions of Australia.

[edit] References

1. ^ Peasant turns prince:Long considered an ignoble grape, Petite Sirah's parentage lifts the variety from working class to nobility. San Francisco Chronicle (January 20,2005).
2. ^ Petite Sirah Timeline. Petite Sirah Advocacy Association.

[edit] External links

• Petite Sirah Advocacy Association