What is "dureza"

Dureza is a dark-skinned French wine grape variety from the Ardèche department of south central France in the Rhône-Alpes region. The grape is most widely known for being the father vine of Syrah—a discovery that confirmed that the Syrah vine was native to France and not introduced to the country from Persia, Sicily, Egypt or elsewhere, as had been speculated.

Dureza was historically used for production of red wine, but is hardly grown any more and is not part of the list of the allowed grape varieties of any French Appellation d'origine contrôlée wine, though it can be produced under some vin de pays. There were only 11 hectares planted to Dureza in the late 1970s: by 1988 only one hectare remained. However, since the variety's relationship to Syrah was revealed, interest in Dureza has been increasing: Pascal Jamet has introduced plantings of the grape to the Saint-Joseph AOC in the northern Rhône Valley, for wine to be made under the appellation of Collines Rhodaniennes vin de pays.