Barbarossa
Classic aromas of Barbarossa are: Raspberry, Boysenberry and Red Plum
Barbarossa is a very rare and ancient red grape varietal. It is of Italian heritage though no one is entirely from which region it hails from. It is believed that was from either Tuscany or Emilia Romagna, and founded in these regions since 1600. Barbarossa itself is Italian for ‘red beard’, most likely referring to the light red colour of the berries in their bunches on the vine, looking like beards.
There is no exact number attached to the number of hectares of Barbarossa worldwide. This is largely due to many red grapes going by very similar names around Italy and France that could easily get confused with each other. A producer in Emilia Romagna, Fattoria Paradiso, claims to be the only one in Italy to produce a single varietal wines from Barbarossa. Alternatively, AA Badenhorst of South Africa is one of the only other people on record whom make a single varietal wine of Barbarossa.
Though very few bottles claim to be made of this grape varietal, we do know that Barbarossa is capable of producing wines that are medium ruby in colour with a medium body and tannins. It is largely red fruits, such as raspberry and red plum, whilst also having some darker fruit flavours as well.