🍇 Alfrocheiro

Alfrocheiro is a red wine grape from Portugal. The VIVC catalogue records 1,492 ha there (2010) and shows it as one of the most prolific ancestors of Iberian grapes: according to the markers, 21 varieties descend from Alfrocheiro, among them Mencía and Castelão. It is grown in the Dão and Alentejo appellations.

According to DNA markers, one parent of Alfrocheiro is Savagnin, that is, Traminer; the other is unknown. Among its 24 synonyms in VIVC are Alfrocheiro preto and Tinta Bastardinha, as well as the Spanish Albarín negro and Bastardo negro.

Crossings with Cayetana blanca gave Castelão, Moreto, Camarate, Cornifesto and Mouratón, known in Spain as Juan García. Mencía is an offspring of Alfrocheiro and Patorra, and Malvasia Fina of Hebén and Alfrocheiro. The area in Portugal has varied: 220 ha in 1989, 1,850 ha in 2007 and 1,492 ha in 2010.

The Dão and Alentejo appellation files include Alfrocheiro in their lists of grapes and note separately that Tinta Bastardinha is its synonym. The Dão list also includes Alfrocheiro's offspring Castelão, Camarate, Moreto and Jaen, that is, Mencía, so parents and children grow side by side.

Why it matters to you. If a Portuguese label says Alfrocheiro or Tinta Bastardinha, it is the same grape. On an EU wine a grape name means at least 85 % of that grape. Red wines are served at 15–18 °C and stored lying down, in the dark, at 10–16 °C.