By the early 1930s Alicante Bouschet was the second most-planted grape in California. Growers around the state were ripping up their fruit orchards in order let the rambunctious grape populate itself.

Natural bunch grapes with seeds from Alicante add "an element of fun to the tradition of the 12 grapes." The seeds provide a "crunchy touch," the supermarket said.

The Alicante Bouschet grape became so popular it was exported all over the world, including Algeria, Israel, and even California, to give a deeper red color and tannic strength to a blend.

The roots of the grape tradition trace back to Spain in 1909 when Alicante grape growers promoted eating twelve grapes as a way to mark the New Year and bring good fortune.

Corrado says grapes take about a week to get from field to Clifton: they need to be picked, packed, cooled and shipped to North Jersey, where they rest in boxes in a large, refrigerated room.

In Spain and Portugal, alicante bouschet never fully fell out of favor. Its preferred role, though, was as a tinting grape, used in small amounts to deepen the hue of lighter varieties.

Traditionally, Alicante's Tuscan role is as a blending grape, a component of nearby Sangiovese-based Morellino di Scanzano wines, adding a soft touch and a Mediterranean-herbed edge.

On a recent weekday afternoon, a man from Staten Island named Baur was observing his red alicante grapes being juiced in the massive on-site press, occasionally standing to fill five-gallon ...

Ten teams vied for a $1,500 prize — and bragging rights — on Sunday in the World Championship Grape Stomp Finals at the Sonoma County Harvest Fair.

The roots of the grape tradition trace back to Spain in 1909 when Alicante grape growers promoted eating twelve grapes as a way to mark the New Year and bring good fortune.