Braquet 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 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 ...

grown predominantly in the

Provence Provence (, , , , ; oc, Provença or ''Prouvènço'' , ) is a geographical region and historical province of southeastern France, which extends from the left bank of the lower Rhône to the west to the Italian border to the east; it is bor ...

region of southeastern

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 ...

, particularly in the Bellet ''

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) where it is as both a blending and varietal grape in still and '' rosé''

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 ...

s. Also known as Brachet, the vine produces naturally low yields and light bodied wines that are delicately perfumed. Recent thought among

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 is that Braquet is not related to the more

aromatic In chemistry, aromaticity is a chemical property of cyclic ( ring-shaped), ''typically'' planar (flat) molecular structures with pi bonds in resonance (those containing delocalized electrons) that gives increased stability compared to satur ...

Italian wine Italian wine is produced in every region of Italy. Italy is the world's largest producer of wine, with an area of under vineyard cultivation, and contributing a 2013–2017 annual average of 48.3 million hl of wine. In 2018 Italy accounted fo ...

grape of the

Piedmont it, Piemontese , population_note = , population_blank1_title = , population_blank1 = , demographics_type1 = , demographics1_footnotes = , demographics1_title1 = , demographics1_info1 = , demographics1_title2 ...

region known as

Brachetto Brachetto is a red Italian wine grape variety grown predominantly in the Piedmont region of northwest Italy. At one time the grape was thought to be related to the French wine grape Braquet, but recent thought among ampelographers is that the t ...

.J. Robinson (ed) ''"The Oxford Companion to Wine"'' Third Edition pg 101 Oxford University Press 2006

History

Documents from 1783-1784 describe Braquet growing in the Provençal towns of

Cannes Cannes ( , , ; oc, Canas) is a city located on the French Riviera. It is a commune located in the Alpes-Maritimes department, and host city of the annual Cannes Film Festival, Midem, and Cannes Lions International Festival of Creativity. T ...

Grasse Grasse (; Provençal oc, Grassa in classical norm or in Mistralian norm ; traditional it, Grassa) is the only subprefecture of the Alpes-Maritimes department in the Provence-Alpes-Côte-d'Azur region on the French Riviera. In 2017, the c ...

and

Nice Nice ( , ; Niçard dialect, Niçard: , classical norm, or , nonstandard, ; it, Nizza ; lij, Nissa; grc, Νίκαια; la, Nicaea) is the prefecture of the Alpes-Maritimes departments of France, department in France. The Nice urban unit, agg ...

where it was said to be a good

table grape Table grapes are grapes intended for consumption while fresh, as opposed to grapes grown for wine production, juice production, or for drying into raisins. ''Vitis vinifera'' table grapes can be in the form of either seeded or non-seeded varieta ...

and blending variety in the local wines. The exact origins of the name ''Braquet'' is unknown but

Master of Wine Master of Wine (MW) is a qualification (not an academic degree) issued by The Institute of Masters of Wine in the United Kingdom. The MW qualification is generally regarded in the wine industry as one of the highest standards of professional knowle ...

Jancis Robinson speculates that it might be a local family name of one of the variety's original propagators.J. Robinson, J. Harding and J. Vouillamoz ''Wine Grapes - A complete guide to 1,368 vine varieties, including their origins and flavours'' pg 134, Allen Lane 2012

Viticulture

Braquet is a mid-ripening variety that naturally produces low harvest yields of medium-sized berries even without severe

pruning Pruning is a horticultural, arboricultural, and silvicultural practice involving the selective removal of certain parts of a plant, such as branches, buds, or roots. The practice entails the ''targeted'' removal of diseased, damaged, dead, ...

. The variety tends to thrive on poor

vineyard soils The soil composition of vineyards is one of the most important viticultural considerations when planting grape vines. The soil supports the root structure of the vine and influences the drainage levels and amount of minerals and nutrients that the ...

and in hot and dry conditions. The grape's main

viticultural hazard 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 ...

is a susceptibility to botrytis.

Wine regions and AOC regulations

In 2008 there were 30 acres (12

hectare The hectare (; SI symbol: ha) is a non-SI metric unit of area equal to a square with 100- metre sides (1 hm2), or 10,000 m2, and is primarily used in the measurement of land. There are 100 hectares in one square kilometre. An acre is ...

s) of Braquet planted in France, mostly around the town of Nice where the variety is known as Brachet. Here it is a permitted variety in the Bellet AOC where it is blended with Fuella Nera to make up at least 60% of the blend for the AOC red and rosé wines. Other varieties that can be blended with Braquet in Bellet include Grenache and

Cinsault Cinsaut or Cinsault ( ) is a red wine grape whose heat tolerance and productivity make it important in Languedoc-Roussillon and the former French colonies of Algeria, Lebanon, and Morocco. It is often blended with grapes such as Grenache and C ...

. Braquet grapes destined for AOC wine production in Bellet must be harvested to a yield no greater than 40

hectoliters The litre (international spelling) or liter (American English spelling) (SI symbols L and l, other symbol used: ℓ) is a metric unit of volume. It is equal to 1 cubic decimetre (dm3), 1000 cubic centimetres (cm3) or 0.001 cubic metre (m3). ...

/hectare with the finished wine needing to attain a minimum alcohol level of 10.5%P. Saunders ''Wine Label Language'' pg 40 Firefly Books 2004

Styles

According to Jancis Robinson, Braquet tends to make a light bodied, slightly floral wine with very little

color Color (American English) or colour (British English) is the visual perceptual property deriving from the spectrum of light interacting with the photoreceptor cells of the eyes. Color categories and physical specifications of color are assoc ...

. While it is often used as a blending grape, its light pigment does lend itself well to '' rosé'' production which is what most

varietal A varietal wine is a wine made primarily from a single named grape variety, and which typically displays the name of that variety on the wine label.The American Heritage Dictionary of the English Language, Fourth Edition, 2000.winepros.com.au. ...

examples of Braquet tend to be.

Relationship to other varieties

Due to the similarities in name, Braquet was often confused with the Piedmont wine grape Brachetto noted for the ''

Denominazione di Origine Controllata e Garantita The following four classifications of wine constitute the Italian system of labelling and legally protecting Italian wine: * ''Denominazione di origine'' (DO, rarely used; ; English: “designation of origin”), * ''Indicazione geografica tipi ...

'' (DOCG) Brachetto d'Acqui. However

DNA testing Genetic testing, also known as DNA testing, is used to identify changes in DNA sequence or chromosome structure. Genetic testing can also include measuring the results of genetic changes, such as RNA analysis as an output of gene expression, o ...

has confirmed that they are separate varieties. The Provençal grape Calitor is another variety that Braquet shares some synonyms with and is often confused for. The white wine grape ''Braquet Blanc de Nice'' is a white

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 Braquet.

Synonyms

Over the years Braquet has been known under a variety of synonyms including: Brachet (in Nice), Bracke, Calito du Languedoc, Canseron and Pecoui Touar du Var.

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 ...

(VIVC)
Braquet
'' Accessed: March 24th, 2013

References

External links

* {{cite web , url=http://www.vinsdebellet.com/english/html/un_peu_d_histoire.htm , title=The Wines of Bellet , url-status=dead , archiveurl=https://web.archive.org/web/20071019113433/http://www.vinsdebellet.com/english/html/un_peu_d_histoire.htm , archivedate=2007-10-19 Red wine grape varieties