Bouteillan noir is a red French wine grape variety that is grown in the Provence wine region of southern France. While the grape has been recorded growing in the Vaucluse region since at least the early 18th century, today the grape is virtually extinct. Despite sharing synonyms with another Provençal grape,

Calitor Calitor or Calitor noir is a red French wine grape variety. It was previously widely cultivated in southern France, in particular in Provence, but is now very rare, almost extinct. Historically used as mainly a blending variety, Calitor gives ...

, and the Languedoc wine grape Aramon noir, Bouteillan noir has no known relationship with either of those variety. The white Provençal grape Colombaud (not to be confused with the Cognac and South African wine grape Colombard) was once thought to be a white berried color mutation of Bouteillan noir but research conducted by

Linda Bisson Dr. Linda Bisson is a trained yeast geneticist who focuses on sugar catabolism and fermentation. She is a retired professor and geneticist from the University of California at Davis. Education and career Bisson has an undergraduate degree fro ...

of the University of California, Davis shows that while the two grapes are likely related, one is not a color mutation of the other.J. Robinson, J. Harding and J. Vouillamoz ''Wine Grapes - A complete guide to 1,368 vine varieties, including their origins and flavours'' pg 131 Allen Lane 2012

History

Bouteillan noir has been recorded in several documents of the 18th and 19th century as being one of the grape varieties that was being grown the Vaucluse region and at some point the variety made its way south into the greater Provence region. The earliest mention of the grape was in 1715 where an unknown commentator noted that Bouteillan noir was more commonly found than other grape varieties such as ''Rians, Pertuis, Cadenet'' and ''Cucuron''. Today, besides Bouteillan noir, only Cadenet blanc is a recognized variety or synonym by the Vitis International Variety Catalogue (VIVC). Vitis International Variety Catalogue (VIVC)
Cadenet blanc
' Accessed: April 25th, 2013

Viticulture

Bouteillan noir is a late budding and ripening variety that is highly susceptible to coulure which leads to very variable yields each vintage. Other viticultural hazards that the vine is susceptible to include

botrytis bunch rot ''Botrytis cinerea'' is a necrotrophic fungus that affects many plant species, although its most notable hosts may be wine grapes. In viticulture, it is commonly known as "botrytis bunch rot"; in horticulture, it is usually called "grey mould" or ...

and powdery mildew.

Relationship to other grapes

Ampelographers believe that Bouteillan noir is closely related to Provençal grape Colombaud but unlike Pinot blanc/

Pinot noir Pinot Noir () is a red-wine grape variety of the species ''Vitis vinifera''. The name may also refer to wines created predominantly from pinot noir grapes. The name is derived from the French language, French words for ''pine'' and ''black.' ...

and Grenache blanc/

Grenache Grenache () or Garnacha () is one of the most widely planted red wine grape varieties in the world. Niels Lillelund: ''Rhône-Vinene'' p. 25, JP Bøger – JP/Politikens Forlagshus A/S, 2004. . It ripens late, so it needs hot, dry conditi ...

, the two grapes are distinct varieties and not color mutations of one or the other. Despite sharing several synonyms with the Languedoc grape Aramon and the Provençal grape Calitor, Bouteillan noir has no known relationship with either variety.

Styles

As the grape is virtually extinct, apart from some plantings in conservation vineyards, there are not many examples of wine made from Bouteillan noir and it is currently not being used in any '' Appellation d'Origine Contrôlée'' (AOC) wines. According to French ampelographer Pierre Galet, Bouteillan noir tends to produce very lightly colored and light bodied wines with low alcohol levels.

Synonyms

Over the years Bouteillan noir has been known under a variety of synonyms including: Bouteillan a Gros Grains, Boutelion noir, Cargomuou, Cayau, Esfouiral, Esfouiras de Roquemaure, Fouiral (in the Hérault department), Moulas (in the Vaucluse department), Petit Bouteillan, Plant de Psalmodi, Psalmodi noir, Psalmody, Sigotier and Sigoyer (in the

Alpes-de-Haute-Provence Alpes-de-Haute-Provence or sometimes abbreviated as AHP (; oc, Aups d'Auta Provença; ) is a department in the Provence-Alpes-Côte d'Azur region of France, bordering Alpes-Maritimes and Italy to the east, Var to the south, Vaucluse to the west ...

department). Vitis International Variety Catalogue (VIVC)
Bouteillan noire
'' Accessed: April 25th, 2013

References

{{reflist Red wine grape varieties