Merlot Blanc

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The white wine variety Merlot Blanc is grown in small quantities in the French region of Bordeaux (for example in the Blayais, Bourgeais and Graves areas ). In 1891 a gentleman named Guinaudie brought it back from a hunt in the Sud-Ouest wine-growing region . He planted the seedlings in the vineyards of his Château de Geneau estate in Virsac. Due to a certain similarity with the Merlot , it was called Merlot Blanc.

The vigorous and high-yielding variety was very popular until the middle of the 20th century. In a survey in 1958, about 5280 hectares of planted vineyards were determined. Since the variety has not been replanted since 1995, its population shrank to approx. 176 hectares (as of 2000). Today it is still used in the wines of Entre deux mers , Côtes de Bourg , Graves de Vayres , Sainte-Foy-Bordeaux , Crémant de Bordeaux and Côtes de Blaye .

In 2009, the direct relatives of the Merlot Blanc variety were identified. The red grape variety Merlot and the variety Folle Blanche are the parents of Merlot Blanc.

Ampelographic varietal characteristics

In ampelography , the habitus is described as follows:

  • The shoot tip is open. It is woolly hairy and rimmed reddish. The young leaves are covered with white flames.
  • The medium-sized to large leaves are five-lobed and strongly curved. The stalk bay is open like a lyre. The blade is unevenly serrated.
  • The cylindrical grape is medium-sized, sometimes shouldered and dense berries. The round berries are medium-sized and whitish in color.

Merlot Blanc ripens almost 12 days after the Gutedel . It is therefore considered to ripen early. The early budding leads to a risk of late frost.

It is less susceptible to powdery mildew and downy mildew , but tends to rot due to its dense berries . In addition, their yield is limited by the infestation of nematodes .

Synonyms

The Merlot Blanc is also called Merlau blanc or Merlaut Blanc. He was also mistakenly called Colombard .

Individual evidence

  1. ↑ Jean-Michel Boursiquot, Thierry Lacombe, Valerie Laucou, Sébastien Julliard, François-X. Perrin, Nathalie Lanier, Delphine Legrand, Carole Meredith, Patrice This: Parentage of Merlot and related winegrape cultivars of southwestern France: discovery of the missing link. In: Australian Journal of Grape and Wine Research. Vol. 15, No. 2, 2009, pp. 144-155, doi : 10.1111 / j.1755-0238.2008.00041.x .

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