Meslier-Saint-François 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 ...
that is now grown predominantly in the
Loir-et-Cher department of the
Loire Valley. Historically, the grape was found more widely throughout the Loire and western France and was even used in the production of
Armagnac
Armagnac (, ) is a distinctive kind of brandy produced in the Armagnac region in Gascony, southwest France. It is distilled from wine usually made from a blend of grapes including Baco 22A, Colombard, Folle blanche and Ugni blanc, traditionally ...
. However, for most of the 20th century Meslier-Saint-François has been following a similar route to the Loire grape
Arbois with plantings rapidly declining.
[J. Robinson ''Jancis Robinson's Guide to Wine Grapes'' pg 109 Oxford University Press 1996 ]
The grape is a
crossing of
Gouais blanc
Gouais blanc () or Weißer Heunisch () is a white grape variety that is seldom grown today but is important as the ancestor of many traditional French and German grape varieties. The name ''Gouais'' derives from the old French adjective ‘ ...
and
Chenin blanc making it a sibling of
Balzac blanc and
Colombard
Colombard (also known as French Colombard in North America) is a white French wine grape variety that is the offspring of Chenin blanc and Gouais blanc.winepros.com.au. This makes the grape the sibling of the Armagnac Meslier-Saint-François ...
.
[J. Robinson, J. Harding and J. Vouillamoz ''Wine Grapes - A complete guide to 1,368 vine varieties, including their origins and flavours'' pg 82, Allen Lane 2012 ]
Synonyms
Various synonyms have been used to describe Meslier-Saint-François and its wines, including Anereau, Annereau, Blanc ramé, Blanc ramet, Bonne blanche, Bordeaux blanc, Chalosse, Chalosse de Bordeaux, François blanc, Gros meslier, Grosse blanche, Meslier, Meslier blanc, Meslier d’Orleans, Meslier de Seine et Oise, Meslier du Gâtinais, Meslier du Gers, Meslier gros, Meslier jaune, Meslier vert, Pelgarie, Pot de vin, Purgarie and Rochelin.
References
{{DEFAULTSORT:Meslier-Saint-Francois
White wine grape varieties