Villard grapes are French wine hybrid grape created by French horticulturist

Bertille Seyve Saint Berthild, also known as Bertille or Bertilla (died 692), was abbess of Chelles Abbey in France. Life Berthild was born into one of the most illustrious families in the territory of Soissons, France, during the reign of Dagobert I.In his semi ...

and his father-in-law

Victor Villard The name Victor or Viktor may refer to: * Victor (name), including a list of people with the given name, mononym, or surname Arts and entertainment Film * ''Victor'' (1951 film), a French drama film * ''Victor'' (1993 film), a French shor ...

(father and grandfather of grape breeder Joannes Seyve). They include the dark skin Villard noir and the white-wine variety Villard blanc with both being members of the

Seyve-Villard grape Villard grapes are French wine hybrid grape created by French horticulturist Bertille Seyve and his father-in-law Victor Villard (father and grandfather of grape breeder Joannes Seyve). They include the dark skin Villard noir and the white-wine v ...

family.J. Robinson ''Jancis Robinson's Guide to Wine Grapes'' pg 197 Oxford University Press 1996 Villard noir is a cross of two other French hybrids, Siebel 6905 (also known as Le Subereux) and Seibel 7053 (also known as

Chancellor Chancellor ( la, cancellarius) is a title of various official positions in the governments of many nations. The original chancellors were the of Roman courts of justice—ushers, who sat at the or lattice work screens of a basilica or law cou ...

) created by physician and plant breeder

Albert Seibel Albert Seibel (1844–1936) was a French physician and viticulturist who made hybrid crosses of European wine grapes (''Vitis vinifera'') with native North American grapes. His crosses are known as Seibel grapes. Biography Seibel was born in Aub ...

.J. Robinson ''Vines, Grapes & Wines'' pg 206 Mitchell Beazley 1986 Like Villard noir, Villard blanc was produced as a crossing of two Seibel grapes, in this case, Le Subereux and Seibel 6468.Villard blanc
, Vitis International Variety Catalogue, Accessed: February 21st, 2011 Villard noir was once widely grown in the

South West France wine region South West France, or in French ''Sud-Ouest'', is a wine region in France covering several wine-producing areas situated respectively inland from, and south of, the wine region of Bordeaux.Bordeaux. The variety reaches its peaked in the late 1960s when there was more than 74,000 acres (30,000 hectares) of Villard noir planted throughout France. (And an additional 21,000 hectares of its white skin sibling, Villard blanc). By 1968, Villard noir was the fifth most widely planted black-skin grape in France and Villard blanc the third most widely planted white-skin variety. However, from that peak its numbers soon declined as French authorities attributed the proliferation of hybrid varieties as a cause of the growing

wine lake The wine lake refers to a perceived overproduction of wine in the European Union, particularly around 2005–2007. The EU's Common Agricultural Policy contained a number of subsidies for wine producers, leading to a supply glut; this surplus forc ...

problem in France and ordered the uprooting of many varieties. Since 1977 '' Appellation d'Origine Contrôlée'' (AOC) laws have forbidden the planting of the Villard grapes in France. Despite being a hybrid grape variety, plantings of Villard noir are normally grafted onto ''

Vitis berlandieri ''Vitis berlandieri'' is a species of grape native to the southern North America, primarily Texas, New Mexico and Arkansas. It is primarily known for good tolerance against soils with a high content of lime, which can cause chlorosis in many vin ...

'' rootstock. Although susceptible to

botrytis Botrytis may refer to: * ''Botrytis'' (fungus), the anamorphs of fungi of the genus ''Botryotinia'' **''Botrytis cinerea'', a mold important in wine making *Botrytis, the cauliflower cultivar group of ''Brassica oleracea ''Brassica oleracea'' is ...

and powdery mildew, the vine is virtually immune to downy mildew and can be found in American wine regions on the east coast where mildew is often a problem. Today, is commonly used as a blending grape for table wine or in the production of

distilled beverage Liquor (or a spirit) is an alcoholic drink produced by distillation of grains, fruits, vegetables, or sugar, that have already gone through alcoholic fermentation. Other terms for liquor include: spirit drink, distilled beverage or hard li ...

History

In the early 20th century, Bertille Seyve and his father-in-law Victor Villard picked up on the work of French physician and viticulturalist Albert Seibel and began experimenting with Seibel grape in the creation of new varieties. Working with these grapes, Seyve and Villard created the popular Seyval blanc variety, which became an important grape in the wine industry of the United Kingdom, and the two Villard varieties, which became popular in France. A few reasons for the Villards’ popularity were the varieties’ relative ease of cultivation, their resistance to downy mildew, and prolific yields. Plantings of the varieties increased for the devastation of the war years following World War I and World War II with the Villards hitting their peak in the French wine industry during the 1960s. By 1968, Villard noir was the fifth most widely black skin grape variety (behind such notable '' Vitis vinifera'' varieties such as

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' ...

and

Merlot Merlot is a dark blue–colored wine grape variety, that is used as both a blending grape and for varietal wines. The name ''Merlot'' is thought to be a diminutive of ''merle'', the French name for the blackbird, probably a reference to the ...

) while Villard blanc was the third most planted white grape variety (behind

Ugni blanc Trebbiano is an Italian wine grape, one of the most widely planted grape varieties in the world. It gives good yields, but tends to yield undistinguished wine. It can be fresh and fruity, but does not keep long. Also known as ugni blanc, it h ...

and

Chardonnay Chardonnay (, , ) is a green-skinned grape variety used in the production of white wine. The variety originated in the Burgundy wine region of eastern French wine, France, but is now grown wherever wine is produced, from English wine, Englan ...

). During these peak years there were more than 30,000 and 21,000 hectares of Villard noir and blanc, respectively, planted over a swatch of southern France that stretched from Bordeaux all the way to the northern Rhone. But this peak period was short lived as hybrid grape varieties became a source for scorn and blame from French authorities and growers of exclusively ''vinifera'' fruit for the wine lake phenomenon that troubled the European wine industry for much of the 20th century. For the rest of the century, both Villard varieties as well as several other hybrid grapes (like Baco noir,

Chambourcin Chambourcin is a species of grapevines belonging to the ''Vitis'' genus in the flowering plant family Vitaceae. It is a French-American interspecific hybrid grape variety used for making wine. Its parentage is uncertain. The hybrid was produced ...

Couderc Couderc is a surname, and may refer to: * Anne-Marie Couderc (born 1950), French politician and business executive * Céline Couderc (born 1983), French female freestyle swimmer * Joseph-Antoine-Charles Couderc (1810–1875), French operatic tenor/ ...

and Plantet) were targeted by aggressive

vine-pull schemes Vine pull schemes are programs whereby grape growers receive a financial incentive to pull up their grape vines, a process known as ''arrachage'' in French. A large program of this kind was initiated by the European Union ( EU) in 1988 to reduce t ...

where growers were paid substantial amounts to uproot their vineyards and either replant with more "

noble grapes An international variety is a grape variety that is widely planted in most of the major wine producing regions and has widespread appeal and consumer recognition. These are grapes that are highly likely to appear on wine labels as varietal wines ...

" or different agriculture crops. These efforts were highly successful and by the end of the 1980s, the numbers for Villard noir had dropped to 2,500 hectares and for Villard blanc to 4,600 hectares. Further fueled by changes to French

wine laws Wine laws are legislation regulating various aspects of production and sales of wine. The purpose of wine laws includes combating wine fraud, by means of regulated protected designations of origin, labelling practices and classification of wine, a ...

in the 1970s that prohibited the use of hybrid grapes in AOC wines and banned future plantings, both grapes were virtually eradicated from French vineyards by the turn of the 21st century.

Wine regions

While the Villard grapes were once widely planted throughout southern France, particularly in the wine regions of the southwest, and could be found in Bordeaux as well the vineyards of the northern Rhône Valley, today it is virtually eradicated from France. The few exceptions are isolated

old vine Old or OLD may refer to: Places *Old, Baranya, Hungary *Old, Northamptonshire, England *Old Street station, a railway and tube station in London (station code OLD) *OLD, IATA code for Old Town Municipal Airport and Seaplane Base, Old Town, Mai ...

plantings in the

departments Department may refer to: * Departmentalization, division of a larger organization into parts with specific responsibility Government and military *Department (administrative division), a geographical and administrative division within a country, ...

Ardèche Ardèche (; oc, Ardecha; frp, Ardecha) is a department in the Auvergne-Rhône-Alpes region of Southeastern France. It is named after the river Ardèche and had a population of 328,278 as of 2019.Tarn which survived the vine-pulling period of the late 20th century. Today, both Villard grapes can be found in limited plantings in various American wines regions including Missouri, Illinois, New Jersey, New Mexico, Virginia, Indiana, Pennsylvania and

Oklahoma Oklahoma (; Choctaw language, Choctaw: ; chr, ᎣᎧᎳᎰᎹ, ''Okalahoma'' ) is a U.S. state, state in the South Central United States, South Central region of the United States, bordered by Texas on the south and west, Kansas on the nor ...

. In New York State, Villard noir has a long history in the Finger Lakes AVA.

Viticulture and winemaking

The Villard grapes are known for their prolific yields, relative ease of cultivation and resistance to downy mildew. From a winemaking perspective, Villard blanc has the potential to make the better wine but its

must Must (from the Latin ''vinum mustum'', "young wine") is freshly crushed fruit juice (usually grape juice) that contains the skins, seeds, and stems of the fruit. The solid portion of the must is called pomace and typically makes up 7–23% of t ...

can be difficult to work with and can be prone to various wine faults.

Synonyms

Over the years, Villard noir and its wines have been known under a variety of

synonyms A synonym is a word, morpheme, or phrase that means exactly or nearly the same as another word, morpheme, or phrase in a given language. For example, in the English language, the words ''begin'', ''start'', ''commence'', and ''initiate'' are all ...

, including Seyve-Villard 18-315, Seyve-Villard 18315, SV 18-315 and Willard Noir.Villard noir
Vitis International Variety Catalogue, Accessed: February 21st, 2011 Villard blanc has been known under the synonyms Seyve-Villard 12-375 and SV 12-375.

References

{{Hybrid grape varieties Hybrid grape varieties