Picardan or Picardan blanc is a white

wine Wine is an alcoholic drink typically made from fermented grapes. Yeast consumes the sugar in the grapes and converts it to ethanol and carbon dioxide, releasing heat in the process. Different varieties of grapes and strains of yeasts are m ...

grape A grape is a fruit, botanically a berry, of the deciduous woody vines of the flowering plant genus '' Vitis''. Grapes are a non- climacteric type of fruit, generally occurring in clusters. The cultivation of grapes began perhaps 8,000 years a ...

which is one of 13 permitted blending grapes within the

Châteauneuf-du-Pape AOC Châteauneuf-du-Pape is a French wine, an ''Appellation d'origine contrôlée'' (AOC) located around the village of Châteauneuf-du-Pape in the Rhône wine region in southeastern France. It is one of the most renowned appellations of the southern ...

in Rhône wine region in

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 ...

, although very little planted. The Vitis International Variety Catalogue previously listed Oeillade blanche as the primary name of the variety,Vitis International Variety Catalogue: Oeillade blanche
accessed on May 5, 2008 but now identifies Araignan as the primary name. However, since the variety is practically unknown for any other use than the Châteauneuf-du-Pape blend, it most commonly goes under the name used for it in that appellation. Picardan gives a wine which considered to be light and rather neutral in character.

Wine

Picardan is also the name of a historical white wine from

Languedoc The Province of Languedoc (; , ; oc, Lengadòc ) is a former province of France. Most of its territory is now contained in the modern-day region of Occitanie in Southern France. Its capital city was Toulouse. It had an area of approximately ...

, usually sweetish in character, traded in the late 17th and 18th centuries. It is supposed to have been produced from the varieties

Clairette blanche Clairette blanche is a white wine grape variety most widely grown in the wine regions of Provence, Rhône and Languedoc in France. At the end of the 1990s, there were of Clairette blanche grown in France, although volumes are decreasing. Cla ...

and Piquepoul blanc.

Synonyms and relationship to other grapes

Synonyms include: Aragnan, Aragnan blanc, Araignan, Araignan blanc, Gallet, Gallet blanc, Grosse Clairette, Milhaud blanc, Oeillade blanche, Papadoux, Picardan, Picardan blanc, Piquardan, Piquardant. Picardan (but not Picardan blanc) is also a synonym for the white grape variety

Bourboulenc Bourboulenc is a white wine grape variety primarily grown in southern France. The variety is found in the regions Southern Rhône, Provence and Languedoc. Bourboulenc is a late-ripening grape variety with tight bunches of large grapes, that can ...

, which is also found in Châteauneuf-du-Pape, and the dark-skinned variety Bouchales. Picardan noir is a synonym for Cinsaut and Bouchales. Despite the synonym ''Oeillade blanche'', Picardan is not a

color mutation The propagation of grapevines is an important consideration in commercial viticulture and winemaking. Grapevines, most of which belong to the ''Vitis vinifera'' family, produce one crop of fruit each growing season (vine), growing season with a lim ...

of the

and

Provence wine Provence (Provençal) wine comes from the French wine-producing region of Provence in southeast France. The Romans called the area ''provincia nostra'' ("our province"), giving the region its name. Just south of the Alps, it was the first Roman pr ...

grape Oeillade noire.J. Robinson, J. Harding and J. Vouillamoz ''Wine Grapes - A complete guide to 1,368 vine varieties, including their origins and flavours'' pg 743, Allen Lane 2012

References

{{reflist White wine grape varieties