Black Spanish

Will the real Black Spanish stand up? I have to admit, when we first decided on this variety as a topic, I had never thought I had made wine from it. However, this grape actually has many synonyms. Renowned wine author Jancis Robinson reports that depending on your location, it is referred to as Cigar Box, French Grape, Jacuet, Jacquez, Longworth’s Ohio, and in Australia, Troya. But when I got to a paragraph in her book, Wine Grapes: A Complete Guide to 1,368 Vine Varieties, Including Their Origins and Flavors, I had to pause and reflect, if this was indeed the grape I was supposed to write about. Black Spanish is listed as a synonym under the Jacquez header. The statement was “Jacquez and Listán Prieto (known as Mission in the United States) share the synonym Black Spanish but should not be confused.” There you have it, Robinson says not to be confused, and you the reader should not be confused either. Given the ever possibility of confusion on my part, I am still not sure what to write about