Grolleau or Grolleau noir is a red
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 America ...
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 grown primarily in the
Loire Valley of France. The name is derived from the
French word ''grolle'', meaning "
crow
A crow is a bird of the genus ''Corvus'', or more broadly a synonym for all of ''Corvus''. Crows are generally black in colour. The word "crow" is used as part of the common name of many species. The related term "raven" is not pinned scientifical ...
" and is said to reflect the deep black berries of the Grolleau vine.
[Oz Clarke & M. Rand ''Encyclopedia of Grapes'' p. 113 Webster International Publishers ] The grape is most commonly made into
rosé
A rosé () is a type of wine that incorporates some of the color from the grape skins, but not enough to qualify it as a red wine. It may be the oldest known type of wine, as it is the most straightforward to make with the skin contact method. ...
wine, particularly in the
Anjou Anjou may refer to:
Geography and titles France
* County of Anjou, a historical county in France and predecessor of the Duchy of Anjou
**Count of Anjou, title of nobility
*Duchy of Anjou, a historical duchy and later a province of France
**Duk ...
region. Grolleau wines tend to low
alcohol
Alcohol most commonly refers to:
* Alcohol (chemistry), an organic compound in which a hydroxyl group is bound to a carbon atom
* Alcohol (drug), an intoxicant found in alcoholic drinks
Alcohol may also refer to:
Chemicals
* Ethanol, one of sev ...
content and relatively high
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 sequ ...
.
[J. Robinson ''Vines Grapes & Wines'' p. 199 Mitchell Beazley 1986 ]
History
The first documented plantings of Grolleau occurred in the
Charente
Charente (; Saintongese: ''Chérente''; oc, Charanta ) is a department in the administrative region of Nouvelle-Aquitaine, south western France. It is named after the river Charente, the most important and longest river in the department, an ...
region in the early 19th century.
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 believe that the grape is likely related to the ancient variety
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 ‘ ...
.
[VITIS Ampelographical Dictionary ']
Grolleau
'' (in French) Accessed: 24 September 2009 The Grolleau vine's greatest popularity occurred during the mid- to late 20th century with the widespread marketing of ''Rosé d'Anjou'' wine, of which Grolleau was the principal component. Often blended with
Gamay
Gamay is a purple-colored grape variety used to make red wines, most notably grown in Beaujolais and in the Loire Valley around Tours. Its full name is Gamay Noir à Jus Blanc. It is a very old cultivar, mentioned as long ago as the 15th centu ...
, Grolleau-based Rosé d'Anjou was a
sweet
Sweetness is a basic taste most commonly perceived when eating foods rich in sugars. Sweet tastes are generally regarded as pleasurable. In addition to sugars like sucrose, many other chemical compounds are sweet, including aldehydes, ketones ...
wine. Towards the turn of the 21st century, ''Rosé d'Anjou'' (and by extension Grolleau), started to fall out of favor in lieu of the
Cabernet Franc
Cabernet Franc is one of the major black grape varieties worldwide. It is principally grown for blending with Cabernet Sauvignon and Merlot in the Bordeaux style, but can also be vinified alone, as in the Loire's Chinon. In addition to being us ...
and
Cabernet Sauvignon
Cabernet Sauvignon () is one of the world's most widely recognized red wine grape varieties. It is grown in nearly every major wine producing country among a diverse spectrum of climates from Australia and British Columbia, Canada to Lebanon' ...
–dominated rosé
Cabernet d'Anjou. By 2000 there were only 5,500 acres (2,200 hectares) of Grolleau planted in the Middle Loire.
[J. Robinson (ed) ''"The Oxford Companion to Wine"'' Third Edition p. 334 Oxford University Press 2006 ]
The decline has been attributed, in part, to Grolleau's reputation for poor quality as noted by wine experts such as
Jancis Robinson
Jancis Mary Robinson OBE, ComMA, MW (born 22 April 1950) is a British wine critic, journalist and wine writer. She currently writes a weekly column for the ''Financial Times'', and writes for her website JancisRobinson.com, updated daily. She ...
[J. Robinson ''Jancis Robinson's Wine Course'' Third Edition p. 182 Abbeville Press 2003 ] and
Tom Stevenson
Tom Stevenson (born 1951) is a British wine writer and critic. Described by his colleagues as one of today's most prolific wine authors, Stevenson is regarded as the world's leading authority on Champagne.christies.coChristie’s Champagne Ma ...
.
[T. Stevenson ''"The Sotheby's Wine Encyclopedia"'' pp. 202-204 Dorling Kindersley 2005 ] Wine critic
Robert M. Parker, Jr., has taken a dim view of Grolleau's potential, recommending in his wine buying guide that growers in the Loire Valley should rip up all Grolleau vines and replace them with grape varieties that have more potential for quality wine production such as Gamay and Cabernet Franc.
Alice Feiring
Alice Feiring is an American journalist and author, for several years a wine and travel columnist for '' Time'' magazine, and known as an advocate for " natural wine".
In addition to contributions to publications such as '' The New York Times'' ...
'
New Years Day Grolleau
"'' ''Veritas in Vino'', 2 January 2005
Wine regions
The Grolleau vine is found mostly in the Middle Loire region where it is a permitted grape variety for the rosé ''
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 boun ...
'' (AOC)s of Anjou, Touraine and
Saumur AOC
Saumur is a French wine region located in the Loire Valley. The region is noted for sparkling wines produced by the traditional method
The traditional method is the process used in the Champagne region of France to produce Champagne. It is ...
. The grape is limited to just rosé wines and is not permitted by AOC regulations into the red blends of these regions.
It is also permitted as an ingredient in the
sparkling wine
Sparkling wine is a wine with significant levels of carbon dioxide in it, making it fizzy. While the phrase commonly refers to champagne, European Union countries legally reserve that term for products exclusively produced in the Champagne regi ...
s of the
Cremant de Loire
Sparkling wine is a wine with significant levels of carbon dioxide in it, making it fizzy. While the phrase commonly refers to champagne, European Union countries legally reserve that term for products exclusively produced in the Champagne reg ...
,
Anjou AOC Anjou may refer to:
Geography and titles France
* County of Anjou, a historical county in France and predecessor of the Duchy of Anjou
**Count of Anjou, title of nobility
*Duchy of Anjou, a historical duchy and later a province of France
**Duk ...
and
Saumur AOC
Saumur is a French wine region located in the Loire Valley. The region is noted for sparkling wines produced by the traditional method
The traditional method is the process used in the Champagne region of France to produce Champagne. It is ...
.
Viticulture
Grolleau is a high
yielding grapevine that ripens reliably and relatively early for the cool climate Loire Valley-often right after Gamay.
The vine produces medium-sized clusters clinging to the vine via its long, slender
pedicel
Pedicle or pedicel may refer to:
Human anatomy
*Pedicle of vertebral arch, the segment between the transverse process and the vertebral body, and is often used as a radiographic marker and entry point in vertebroplasty and kyphoplasty procedures
...
s. The grapes are thin skinned with few
phenolic compounds, but after ''
veraison
In viticulture, veraison (french: véraison, ) is the onset of the ripening of the grapes. The official definition of ''veraison'' is "change of color of the grape berries". Veraison represents the transition from berry growth to berry ripening, ...
'' they produce color ranging from gray to bluish/black depending on the
clone. There are currently five clones of the Grolleau vine authorized for viticulture in France. The vine tends to
bud
In botany, a bud is an undeveloped or embryonic shoot and normally occurs in the axil of a leaf or at the tip of a stem. Once formed, a bud may remain for some time in a dormant condition, or it may form a shoot immediately. Buds may be spec ...
early which renders it susceptible to damage from spring
frost
Frost is a thin layer of ice on a solid surface, which forms from water vapor in an above-freezing atmosphere coming in contact with a solid surface whose temperature is below freezing, and resulting in a phase change from water vapor (a gas) ...
s. Its long branches make its susceptible to wind damage, requiring that it be planted near hillside shelter. Grolleau is sensitive to several
grape diseases
This is a list of diseases of grapes (''Vitis'' spp.).
Bacterial diseases
Fungal diseases
Miscellaneous diseases and disorders
Nematodes, parasitic
Phytoplasma, virus and viruslike diseases
See also
*'' Ampeloglypter ater''
*'' Am ...
including
excoriose and
stem rot
Stem rot is a disease caused by a fungus infection in the stem. Fungus that causes stem rot are in the ''Rhizoctonia'', ''Fusarium'' or ''Pythium'' genera. Stem rot can readily infect crops that are in their vegetative or flowering stages. The dis ...
.
Wines
Grolleau produces
light bodied, fairly neutral wines with noticeably high acidity. It is often produced in off-dry to medium sweet style, leaving some
sugars in the wine
Sugars in wine are at the heart of what makes winemaking possible. During the process of fermentation, sugars from wine grapes are broken down and converted by yeast into alcohol (ethanol) and carbon dioxide. Grapes accumulate sugars as they grow ...
to balance with the acidity.
Grolleau gris
Grolleau gris is the pink-skinned
mutation
In biology, a mutation is an alteration in the nucleic acid sequence of the genome of an organism, virus, or extrachromosomal DNA. Viral genomes contain either DNA or RNA. Mutations result from errors during DNA or viral replication, mi ...
of Grolleau noir planted primarily in the Loire Valley. It is used mainly for the white wines of the ''
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 Jardin de la France''.
[J. Robinson ''Jancis Robinson's Wine Course'' Third Edition p. 112 Abbeville Press 2003 ]
Synonyms
Grolleau is also known under the synonyms Bourdalès, Franc noir, Gamay de Châtillon (in
Savennières), Gamay-Groslot, Gloire de Tours, Grolleau de Cinq-Mars, Grolleau de Touraine, Grolleau de Tours, Grolleau noir, Grolo Chernyi, Grolot noir, Groslot, Groslot de Cinq-Mars, Groslot de Valère, Groslot de Vallères, Moinard, Moinard Grolleau, Neri, Noir de Saumur, Pineau de Saumur, Plant Boisnard, Plant Mini, and Rosé d'Anjou.
[Grolleau noir](_blank)
, Vitis International Variety Catalogue
The Vitis International Variety Catalogue (VIVC) is a database of various species and varieties/cultivars of grapevine, the genus ''Vitis''. VIVC is administered by the Geilweilerhof Institute for Grape Breeding (''Institut für Rebenzüchtung Gei ...
, accessed 24 November 2010
Grolleau gris is also known under the synonyms Grolleau, Groslot de la Thibaudière, and Groslot gris.
[GrolleaugGris](_blank)
Vitis International Variety Catalogue
The Vitis International Variety Catalogue (VIVC) is a database of various species and varieties/cultivars of grapevine, the genus ''Vitis''. VIVC is administered by the Geilweilerhof Institute for Grape Breeding (''Institut für Rebenzüchtung Gei ...
, accessed 24 November 2010
References
{{DEFAULTSORT:Grolleau (Grape)
Red wine grape varieties