Arbois or Arbois Blanc is a white

French wine French wine is produced all throughout France, in quantities between 50 and 60 million hectolitres per year, or 7–8 billion bottles. France is one of the largest wine producers in the world, along with Italian, Spanish, and Amer ...

grape variety This list of grape varieties includes cultivated grapes, whether used for wine, or eating as a table grape, fresh or dried (raisin, currant, sultana). For a complete list of all grape species including those unimportant to agriculture, see Viti ...

planted primarily in the

Loire The Loire (, also ; ; oc, Léger, ; la, Liger) is the longest river in France and the 171st longest in the world. With a length of , it drains , more than a fifth of France's land, while its average discharge is only half that of the Rhône ...

regions. J. Robinson ''Jancis Robinson's Wine Course'' Third Edition pg 100 Abbeville Press 2003 Despite being a minor grape, in the late 20th century it was the third most widely planted grape variety in the Loir-et-Cher ''

département In the administrative divisions of France, the department (french: département, ) is one of the three levels of government under the national level (" territorial collectivities"), between the administrative regions and the communes. Ninety ...

'' which includes the

winemaking Winemaking or vinification is the production of wine, starting with the selection of the fruit, its fermentation into alcohol, and the bottling of the finished liquid. The history of wine-making stretches over millennia. The science of wine and ...

areas of

Cheverny Cheverny () is a commune in the French department of Loir-et-Cher, administrative region of Centre-Val de Loire. It lies in the Loire Valley, about southeast of Blois. Population Sights The commune is the site of the Château de Cheverny. ...

Cour-Cheverny Cour-Cheverny () is a commune in the Loir-et-Cher department, Centre-Val de Loire region, France. The commune's land extends across the Loire Valley and across the Sologne region. Its inhabitants are known as Courchois. Toponymy * The name Cou ...

Montrichard Montrichard () is a town and former commune in the Loir-et-Cher department, Centre-Val de Loire, France. On 1 January 2016, it was merged into the new commune of Montrichard Val de Cher. During the French Revolution, the commune was known as '' ...

, Oisly, Saint-Romain-sur-Cher,

Valençay Valençay () is a commune in the Indre department in the administrative region of Centre-Val de Loire, France. Geography Valençay is situated in the Loire Valley. It sits at the end of a plateau. on a hillside overlooking the River Nahon. Va ...

as well as vineyards that make wines under the Touraine AOC, Cremant de Loire AOC and ''

Vin de Pays ''Vin de pays'' (, "country wine") was a French wine classification that was above the '' vin de table'' classification, but below the ''appellation d'origine contrôlée'' (AOC) classification and below the former ''vin délimité de qualité s ...

du Loir et Cher''. By 2004 acreage had steadily declined to around 750 acres (300 hectares). It is still a permitted grape variety in the ''

Appellation d'origine contrôlée An appellation is a legally defined and protected geographical indication primarily used to identify where the grapes for a wine were grown, although other types of food often have appellations as well. Restrictions other than geographical bou ...

'' (AOC) regions of

Cheverny AOC Cheverny is a French wine region in the Loire Valley that makes dry white wines, light red wines and ''rosé'' wines. The area received AOVDQS (''Appellation d'Origine Vin Délimité de Qualité Supérieure'') status in 1973, and then AOC ( '' ...

, Valençay AOC and Vouvray AOC. J. Robinson (ed) ''"The Oxford Companion to Wine"'' Third Edition pg 29 Oxford University Press 2006 T. Stevenson ''"The Sotheby's Wine Encyclopedia"'' pg 210 Dorling Kindersley 2005

History

Ampelographer Ampelography ( ἄμπελος, "vine" + γράφος, "writing") is the field of botany concerned with the identification and classification of grapevines, ''Vitis'' spp. Traditionally this has been done by comparing the shape and colour of the ...

s are not completely sure about Arbois' origins though some of the grape's synonyms seem to suggest a relationship with the

Pinot Pinot may refer to: *Pinot (grape), a grape family *Pinot (surname) *Pinot (restaurant), a restaurant by chef Joachim Splichal See also *Pino (disambiguation) Pino or Piño may refer to: People * Danny Pino (born 1974), American actor * Domeni ...

family, as does its weak association with the

Jura wine Jura may refer to: Places * Jura, Scotland, island of the Inner Hebrides off Great Britain *Jūra, river in Lithuania Mountain ranges * Jura Mountains, on the French–Swiss–German border *Franconian Jura, south-central Germany *Swabian Jura, ...

region of

Arbois AOC Arbois () is a commune in the Jura department, in the Bourgogne-Franche-Comté region, eastern France. The river Cuisance passes through the town, which centres on an arcaded central square where one can sample the local wines. The commune ha ...

(mostly through its similarities in leaf structure with

Savagnin Savagnin or Savagnin blanc (not to be confused with Sauvignon blanc) is a variety of white wine grape with green-skinned berries. It is mostly grown in the Jura region of France, where it is made into Savagnin wine or the famous vin jaune and vi ...

). It is most likely that the grape is native to the Loire Valley. J. Robinson ''Vines, Grapes & Wines'' pg 231 Mitchell Beazley 1986 Most of the grape's

viticultural Viticulture (from the Latin word for ''vine'') or winegrowing (wine growing) is the cultivation and harvesting of grapes. It is a branch of the science of horticulture. While the native territory of ''Vitis vinifera'', the common grape vine, ran ...

history is tied into the historic

Touraine Touraine (; ) is one of the traditional provinces of France. Its capital was Tours. During the political reorganization of French territory in 1790, Touraine was divided between the departments of Indre-et-Loire, :Loir-et-Cher, Indre and Vien ...

region where it is still most prevalent today, particularly in the Loir-et-Cher ''département''. The grape is on the decline in plantings and importance though it is still a permitted grape variety in several AOCs including being the only grape other than Chenin blanc permitted in Vouvray. Wein-Plus Wine Guide
Vouvray AOC
'' Accessed: September 23rd, 2009

Wine

The Arbois grapevine is highly vigorous and prone to producing high yields. If the yields are not kept in check, the white wines produced from the grapes can be less refined in flavor. Compared to the Chenin blanc grape that is found throughout the Loire, Arbois tends to produce softer wines with less noticeable

acidity In computer science, ACID ( atomicity, consistency, isolation, durability) is a set of properties of database transactions intended to guarantee data validity despite errors, power failures, and other mishaps. In the context of databases, a ...

. Oz Clarke ''Encyclopedia of Grapes'' pg 38 Harcourt Books 2001 For this reason, Arbois has mostly been valued as a "softening" agent to the higher acid varieties of Chenin blanc, Savagnin and

Romorantin Romorantin is a traditional French variety of white wine grape, that is a sibling of Chardonnay. Once quite widely grown in the Loire, it has now only seen in the Cour-Cheverny AOC. It produces intense, minerally wines somewhat reminiscent of ...

Synonyms

Among the synonyms that Arbois is known under throughout

France France (), officially the French Republic ( ), is a country primarily located in Western Europe. It also comprises of overseas regions and territories in the Americas and the Atlantic, Pacific and Indian Oceans. Its metropolitan area ...

are Menu Pineau and Petit Pineau. Other synonyms include Herbois, Orbois and Verdet.

References

{{reflist White wine grape varieties