Bacchus is a white

wine Wine is an alcoholic drink made from Fermentation in winemaking, fermented fruit. Yeast in winemaking, Yeast consumes the sugar in the fruit and converts it to ethanol and carbon dioxide, releasing heat in the process. Wine is most often made f ...

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 approximately 8,0 ...

created by viticulturalist Peter Morio at the Geilweilerhof Institute for Grape Breeding in the Palatinate in 1933.Wein-Plus Glossar: Bacchus
accessed on January 24, 2013Vitis International Variety Catalogue: Bacchus Weiss
accessed on December 1, 2021 He crossed a

Silvaner Silvaner or Sylvaner () is a variety of white wine grape grown primarily in Alsace wine, Alsace and German wine, Germany, where its official name is Grüner Silvaner. While the Alsatian versions have primarily been considered simpler wines, it ...

Riesling Riesling ( , ) is a white grape variety that originated in the Rhine region. Riesling is an aromatic grape variety displaying flowery, almost perfumed, aromas as well as high acidity. It is used to make dry, semi-sweet, sweet, and sparkling ...

cross with

Müller-Thurgau Müller-Thurgau () is a white grape variety (sp. ''Vitis vinifera'') which was created by Hermann Müller from the Swiss Canton of Thurgau in 1882 at the Geisenheim Grape Breeding Institute in Germany. It is a crossing of Riesling with Made ...

. Bacchus received varietal protection and was released for general cultivation in 1972. Its name is taken from Roman name of the Greek wine god

Dionysus In ancient Greek religion and Greek mythology, myth, Dionysus (; ) is the god of wine-making, orchards and fruit, vegetation, fertility, festivity, insanity, ritual madness, religious ecstasy, and theatre. He was also known as Bacchus ( or ; ...

. Bacchus can reach high must weights, and has no high requirement for sites it can be planted and can grow where Riesling, for example, does not ripen reliably. It ripens early, about the same time as Müller-Thurgau, and has a high productivity similar to that variety. Bacchus wines can have powerful flavours and character, which have even been described as "exuberant", but only if it is allowed to ripen fully. It is low in acidity, which does not always make it very well suited for varietal wines under typical German growing conditions. Among the new breeds, it is considered to give less elegant wines than Kerner. Therefore, Bacchus is often used for blending into Müller-Thurgau, to give the latter more flavour. Within Germany,

Franconia Franconia ( ; ; ) is a geographical region of Germany, characterised by its culture and East Franconian dialect (). Franconia is made up of the three (governmental districts) of Lower Franconia, Lower, Middle Franconia, Middle and Upper Franco ...

is considered as the source of some of the more successful varietal Bacchus wines. Bacchus is also increasingly grown in several vineyards in

England England is a Countries of the United Kingdom, country that is part of the United Kingdom. It is located on the island of Great Britain, of which it covers about 62%, and List of islands of England, more than 100 smaller adjacent islands. It ...

. The colder climate in England means that grapes retain a higher acidity and yields are lower, giving varietal wines of (potentially) high quality, somewhat in a

Sauvignon blanc Sauvignon blanc () is a green-skinned grape variety that originates from the city of Bordeaux in France. The grape most likely gets its name from the French words ''sauvage'' ("wild") and ''blanc'' ("white") due to its early origins as an ind ...

-like style: English Bacchus wines often fall somewhere between the typical French and New Zealand styles of Sauvignon Blanc, although there are examples at either end of the spectrum. German plantations peaked in the 1990 at around of which more than half were in

Rheinhessen Rhenish Hesse or Rhine HesseDickinson, Robert E (1964). ''Germany: A regional and economic geography'' (2nd ed.). London: Methuen, p. 542. . (, ) is a region and a former government district () in the States of Germany, German state of Rhineland ...

, where it was popular to use in QbA blends. In 2006 there were of Bacchus left in Germany, 2.1% of the total vineyard surface.German Wine Institute: German Wine Statistics 2007-2008

Cultivation

Bacchus does particularly well in the UK climate and is now considered the 'poster grape' for the UK wine industry. It is now also the 3rd most planted grape in the UK after

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 France, but is now grown wherever wine is produced, from England to New Zealand. For new a ...

and

Pinot Noir Pinot noir (), also known as Pinot nero, is a red-wine grape variety of the species ''Vitis vinifera''. The name also refers to wines created predominantly from Pinot noir grapes. The name is derived from the French language, French words fo ...

Recognition

In 2017 the Decanter World Wine Awards declared that a Bacchus wine from Winbirri Vineyard, Norfolk was awarded a plantinum best in show award

Synonyms

Synonyms for the Bacchus variety include Bacchus Weiss, Weisser Bacchus, Frühe Scheurebe, Geilweilerhof 33-29-133 and Gf. 33-29-133.

Unrelated Bacchus grapes

The name Bacchus Black is also applied to the ''riparia x labrusca'' hybrid red variety Clinton grown in the Alps, while Bacchus noir refers to another cross involving

Poulsard Poulsard (also Ploussard) is a red French wine grape variety from the Jura wine region. The name Ploussard is used mainly around the town of Pupillin but can appear on wine labels throughout Jura as an authorized synonyms. While technicall ...

.Vitis International Variety Catalogue: Bacchus Noir
accessed on May 26, 2008

References

{{reflist White wine grape varieties