Durif 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. In the 1860s the French botanist François Durif kept a nursery of several grape varieties at his home in the commune of Tullins where he most likely had plantings of both Peloursin and Syrah. At some point the two vines cross pollinated and Durif discovered a new grape variety growing in his nursery. It was
Petite Terre Islands named because it is downwind compared to Terre de Haut island ("Upper Land" island) to its northeast which first meets the trade winds blowing from the north-east in the Caribbean. Administratively, the Petite Terre Islands are dependent of the commune (municipality) of La Désirade. The two islands and 842 hectares (2,081 acres) of sea around them were declared a nature reserve, the "National Nature Reserve of Îles de la Petite-Terre". Petite Terre Islands Petite Terre Islands (, literally "Islands of the Small Land") are two small uninhabited islands located about to the south-east of the island of Grande-Terre (Guadeloupe), in