Durif

Durif/Petite Sirah
Grape (Vitis)
Durif, colour plate from Ampélographie. Traité général de viticulture, Tome II (1901)
Species	Vitis vinifera
Also called	Duriff, Plant Durif, Plant Fourchu, Pinot de Romans and Pinot de l’Hermitage, Petit Syrah
Origin	Montpellier, France
Pedigree parent 1	Syrah
Pedigree parent 2	Peloursin Noir
Notable regions	Australia, California, France, Israel
Breeder	François Durif
Year of crossing	c. 1880
VIVC number	3738

Durif is a variety of red wine grape primarily grown in Australia, California, France, and Israel. Since the end of the 20th century, wineries located in Washington's Yakima River Valley, Maryland, Arizona, Texas, West Virginia, Chile, Mexico's Baja California Peninsula, and Ontario's Niagara Peninsula have also produced wines from Durif grapes. It is the main grape known in the U.S. and Israel as Petite Sirah, with over 90% of the California plantings labeled "Petite Sirah" being Durif grapes; the U.S. Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, Firearms and Explosives (ATF) recognizes "Durif" and "Petite Sirah" as synonyms for the same grape.^[1] It produces tannic wines with a spicy, plummy flavour. The grape originated as a cross of Syrah pollen germinating a Peloursin plant. On some occasions, Peloursin and Syrah vines may be called Petite Sirah, usually because the varieties are extremely difficult to distinguish in old age.