Taferielt is an indigenous

Moroccan wine Among the countries of North Africa, Morocco is considered to have the best natural potential for producing quality wines, due to its high mountains and the cooling influence of the Atlantic, as these factors offset the risk of having too hot viney ...

, table, and

raisin A raisin is a dried grape. Raisins are produced in many regions of the world and may be eaten raw or used in cooking, baking, and brewing. In the United Kingdom, Ireland, New Zealand, and Australia, the word ''raisin'' is reserved for the d ...

grape A grape is a fruit, botanically a berry, of the deciduous woody vines of the flowering plant genus ''Vitis''. Grapes are a non- climacteric type of fruit, generally occurring in clusters. The cultivation of grapes began perhaps 8,000 years ago, ...

. It produces medium to very long clusters of dense, ellipsoid/obovoid, blue-black grapes. It is a parent, along with

Jaén blanco Cayetana blanca, also known as Cayetana or Jaén, is a white Spanish wine grape. It is grown mainly in the south of Spain, especially in Extremadura and in the Jerez region where it is distilled for use in brandy production. J. Robinson ''Janci ...

, of the Moroccan variety ''Blanc de Rhafsaï''. It is a very old variety thought to descend from the wild vines of Morocco, showing clear differentiation from other vines of the

Middle Atlas The Middle Atlas (Amazigh: ⴰⵟⵍⴰⵙ ⴰⵏⴰⵎⵎⴰⵙ, ''Atlas Anammas'', Arabic: الأطلس المتوسط, ''al-Aṭlas al-Mutawassiṭ'') is a mountain range in Morocco. It is part of the Atlas mountain range, a mountainous region ...

, and the

Kabylie Kabylia ('' Kabyle: Tamurt n Leqbayel'' or ''Iqbayliyen'', meaning "Land of Kabyles", '','' meaning "Land of the Tribes") is a cultural, natural and historical region in northern Algeria and the homeland of the Kabyle people. It is part of the ...

and

Aurès Mountains The Aures Mountains ( ar, جبال الأوراس) are an eastern prolongation of the Atlas Mountain System that lies to the east of the Saharan Atlas in northeastern Algeria and northwestern Tunisia, North Africa. The mountain range gives its nam ...

Algeria ) , image_map = Algeria (centered orthographic projection).svg , map_caption = , image_map2 = , capital = Algiers , coordinates = , largest_city = capital , relig ...

. It covered 80% of vineyard space in the

Rif mountains The Rif or Riff (, ), also called Rif Mountains, is a geographic region in northern Morocco. This mountainous and fertile area is bordered by Cape Spartel and Tangier to the west, by Berkane and the Moulouya River to the east, by the Mediterrane ...

in the early 1960s, and previously was found as far afield as the

Balearic Islands The Balearic Islands ( es, Islas Baleares ; or ca, Illes Balears ) are an archipelago in the Balearic Sea, near the eastern coast of the Iberian Peninsula. The archipelago is an autonomous community and a province of Spain; its capital is ...

in pre-

phylloxera Grape phylloxera is an insect pest of commercial grapevines worldwide, originally native to eastern North America. Grape phylloxera (''Daktulosphaira vitifoliae'' (Fitch 1855) belong to the family Phylloxeridae, within the order Hemiptera, bugs ...

times, where it was known as ''Farrana noir''. Its name, ''Taferielt'', probably originates as a placename since it does not occur as a word in any of the Berber dialects in its traditional area of cultivation. It has good resistance to oidium and mildew.

Synonyms

Akhal Meguergueb, Akhal Mguergueb, Farana Lekhal, Farana Lekheal, Farana Noir, Farana Noir De Medea, Farrana Noir, M'guargueb, Meguergueb Akhel, Tafourialt, Tafrial, Tafriolet

References

Red wine grape varieties Grape varieties {{wine-grape-stub