This scenario is largely reversed in other regions of Europe, and in southern Portugal, where its wines are highly prized and frequently outscore traditional autochthonous varieties.

The grape's high yields and easy maintenance encouraged its popularity among French wine growers, especially in the years following the Phylloxera epidemic.

By the end of the 19th century there were Alicante Bouschet plantings in Bordeaux, Burgundy, Loire Valley and Alentejo, Portugal The grape was widely popular in the United States during the years of Prohibition.

The superior transportability of this variety was significant because of a ruling by the Internal Revenue Service on July 25, 1920, in connection with original wording in the Volstead Act, which allowed up to 200 gallons of home-made wine per year, per household, for consumption in the home only.

Widely planted across the Alentejo wine region today (having grown exponentially in popularity from the late 1990s) it is frequently expensive, surpassing the quality and personality of other noble varieties.

In California the grape was popular among home winemakers during Prohibition and still grown today in Napa, Sonoma, Madera, and Calaveras[4] counties.

[5] In Spain Alicante Bouschet is called garnacha tintorera or negral and it is the fifth most planted red grape variety in with 22,572 ha (55,776 acres) grown in 2015.

[1] Alibernet - crossing of Alicante Bouschet x Cabernet Sauvignon was bred in 1950 in the Ukrainian Scientific Research Institute for Wine and Vines in Odessa.

Lusitano - Alicante Bouschet is thought to be a parent of this rare Portuguese grape having been crossed with Castelão (aka Periquita) "Roger's Red" — Prized for its scarlet-crimson fall leaf color, this naturally occurring hybrid of Vitis californica and Vitis vinifera, "Alicante Bouschet" was discovered in Sonoma County, California, in 1983 by Roger Raiche.