Five new grape varieties are well on their way to being approved in Languedoc-Roussillon. They belong to a group of grapes called “bouquet” after the person who developed them, Alain Bouquet.
The grapes are “hybrids” (piwi), i.e. crosses between the “European” grape Vitis vinifera and an American species called Muscadinia rotundifolia.
Hybrids are an important technological development in today’s wine world. These crosses, if successful, produce good wines, with the style of the European species, combined with good resistance to diseases (e.g. oidium and mildiou) and/or climate change, from the American species. An example is Voltis, which was recently approved in Champagne.
The five Languedoc grapes are currently called 3159, 3160, 3176, 3179 and 3196 (or G9).
- 3151 originates from chasan and is similar to chardonnay.
- 3160 comes from fer servadou.
- 3176 and 3179 from grenache, and
- 3196 from italia.
This is how un-sexy the names of new grape varieties look before they are “christened”. Giving them names and final official approval remains.
For now, it is just a matter of experimental planting; 62 producers have in total 61 ha. Some believe that they should be given a name that sounds familiar, such as grenache bouquet, but French authorities think that is inappropriate because it is not Vitis vinifera, and therefore misleading.
In the past, people have succeeded well with unfamiliar names, such as marselan (which is not a hybrid, however) and voltis.
Italian grape developers, however, are more maverick; they have launched, for example, merlot khorus and cabernet cortis – perhaps a little misleading.
Read more: vitisphere .
