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 ago, ...

which is one of 13 permitted blending grapes within the Châteauneuf-du-Pape AOC in Rhône wine region in

France France (), officially the French Republic ( ), is a country primarily located in Western Europe. It also comprises of Overseas France, overseas regions and territories in the Americas and the Atlantic Ocean, Atlantic, Pacific Ocean, Pac ...

, 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 and

Piquepoul blanc Piquepoul, Picpoul, or Picapoll is a variety of wine grape grown primarily in the Rhone Valley and Languedoc regions of France as well as Catalonia, Spain. It exists both in dark-skinned (Piquepoul noir) and light-skinned (Piquepoul blanc) v ...

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 (wine region), Rhône, Provence wine, Provence and Languedoc wine, Languedoc. Bourboulenc is a late-ripening grape ...

, which is also found in Châteauneuf-du-Pape, and the dark-skinned variety Bouchales. Picardan noir is a synonym for

Cinsaut 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 Ca ...

and Bouchales. Despite the synonym ''Oeillade blanche'', Picardan is not a color mutation 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 Œillade noire () is a red French wine grape variety that has been historically grown in the Languedoc and Provence wine region but it is now close to extinction. The grape is often confused for the Rhone wine grape Cinsault which is known under ...

.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