Arbois or Arbois Blanc is a white

French wine French wine is produced throughout all of France in quantities between 50 and 60 million hectolitres per year, or 7–8 billion bottles. France is one of the largest wine producers in the world. French wine traces its history to th ...

grape variety This list of grape varieties includes cultivated grapes, whether used for wine, or eating as a table grape, fresh or dried (raisin, Zante currant, currant, sultana (grape), sultana). For a complete list of all grape species, including those unimp ...

planted primarily in the

Loire The Loire ( , , ; ; ; ; ) is the longest river in France and the 171st longest in the world. With a length of , it drains , more than a fifth of France's land, while its average discharge is only half that of the Rhône. It rises in the so ...

regions. J. Robinson ''Jancis Robinson's Wine Course'' Third Edition pg 100 Abbeville Press 2003 Despite being a minor grape, in the late 20th century it was the third most widely planted grape variety in the

Loir-et-Cher Loir-et-Cher (, ) is a Departments of France, department in the Centre-Val de Loire Regions of France, region of France. It is named after two rivers which run through it, the Loir in its northern part and the Cher (river), Cher in its southern p ...

département In the administrative divisions of France, the department (, ) is one of the three levels of government under the national level (" territorial collectivities"), between the administrative regions and the communes. There are a total of 101 ...

'' which includes the

winemaking Winemaking, wine-making, or vinification is the production of wine, starting with the selection of the fruit, its Ethanol fermentation, fermentation into alcohol, and the bottling of the finished liquid. The history of wine-making stretches over ...

areas of Cheverny,

Cour-Cheverny Cour-Cheverny () is a commune in the Loir-et-Cher department, Centre-Val de Loire region, France. The commune's land extends across the Loire Valley and across the Sologne region. Its inhabitants are known as Courchois. Toponymy * The name Cou ...

Montrichard Montrichard () is a town and former commune in the Loir-et-Cher department, Centre-Val de Loire, France. On 1 January 2016, it was merged into the new commune of Montrichard Val de Cher. During the French Revolution, the commune was known as . ...

Oisly Oisly () is a commune in the Loir-et-Cher department of central France. Population References See also *Communes of the Loir-et-Cher department A commune is an alternative term for an intentional community. Commune or comună or comune or ...

, Saint-Romain-sur-Cher, Valençay as well as vineyards that make wines under the Touraine AOC, Cremant de Loire AOC and ''

Vin de Pays ''Vin de pays'' (; 'country wine') was a French wine classification that was above the '' vin de table'' classification, but below the ''appellation d'origine contrôlée'' (AOC) classification and below the former '' vin délimité de qualité ...

du Loir et Cher''. By 2004 acreage had steadily declined to around 750 acres (300 hectares). It is still a permitted grape variety in the ''

Appellation d'origine contrôlée In France, the ''appellation d'origine contrôlée'' (, ; abbr. AOC ) is a label that identifies an agricultural product whose stages of production and processing are carried out in a defined geographical area – the ''terroir'' – and using ...

'' (AOC) regions of

Cheverny AOC Cheverny () is a French wine region in the Loire Valley that makes dry white wines, light red wines and ''rosé'' wines. The area received AOVDQS (''Appellation d'Origine Vin Délimité de Qualité Supérieure'') status in 1973, and then AOC ( ...

, Valençay AOC and Vouvray AOC. J. Robinson (ed) ''"The Oxford Companion to Wine"'' Third Edition pg 29 Oxford University Press 2006 T. Stevenson ''"The Sotheby's Wine Encyclopedia"'' pg 210 Dorling Kindersley 2005

History

Ampelographer Ampelography ( ἄμπελος, "vine" + γράφος, "writing") is the field of botany concerned with the identification and classification of grapevines, ''Vitis'' spp. Traditionally this has been done by comparing the shape and colour of th ...

s are not completely sure about Arbois' origins though some of the grape's

synonyms A synonym is a word, morpheme, or phrase that means precisely 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 a ...

seem to suggest a relationship with the

Pinot Pinot may refer to: * Pinot (grape), a grape family *Pinot (surname) Pinot is a surname. Notable people with the surname include: *Giuseppe Pinot-Gallizio (1902–1964), Italian painter *Manohara Odelia Pinot (born 1992), Indonesian model *Margaux ...

family, as does its weak association with the

Jura wine Jura wine is French wine produced in the Jura '' département''. Located between Burgundy and Switzerland, this cool climate wine region produces wines with some similarity to Burgundy and Swiss wine. Jura wines are distinctive and unusual wi ...

region of

Arbois AOC Jura wine is French wine produced in the Jura ''département''. Located between Burgundy and Switzerland, this cool climate wine region produces wines with some similarity to Burgundy and Swiss wine. Jura wines are distinctive and unusual wine ...

(mostly through its similarities in leaf structure with

Savagnin Savagnin () or Savagnin blanc is a variety of white wine grape with green-skinned berries. It is mostly grown in the Jura region of France, where it is made into Savagnin wine or the famous vin jaune and vin de paille. History The history of S ...

). It is most likely that the grape is native to the

Loire Valley The Loire Valley (, ), spanning , is a valley located in the middle stretch of the Loire river in central France, in both the administrative regions Pays de la Loire and Centre-Val de Loire. The area of the Loire Valley comprises about . It is r ...

. J. Robinson ''Vines, Grapes & Wines'' pg 231 Mitchell Beazley 1986 Most of the grape's

viticultural Viticulture (, "vine-growing"), viniculture (, "wine-growing"), or winegrowing is the cultivation and harvesting of grapes. It is a branch of the science of horticulture. While the native territory of ''Vitis vinifera'', the common grape vine, ...

history is tied into the historic

Touraine Touraine (; ) is one of the traditional provinces of France. Its capital was Tours. During the political reorganization of French territory in 1790, Touraine was divided between the departments of Indre-et-Loire, :Loir-et-Cher, Indre and Vien ...

region where it is still most prevalent today, particularly in the Loir-et-Cher ''département''. The grape is on the decline in plantings and importance though it is still a permitted grape variety in several AOCs including being the only grape other than

Chenin blanc Chenin blanc (, ; known also as Pineau de la Loire among #Synonyms, other names) is a white wine grape variety from the Loire Valley (wine), Loire Valley of France (wine), France. Its high acidity (wine), acidity means it can be used to make var ...

permitted in

Vouvray Vouvray (, , ) is a commune in the Indre-et-Loire department in central France. It is around 9 km east of the centre of Tours. It is best known for its production of white wine, rated among the best in France. Population Education Sch ...

. Wein-Plus Wine Guide
Vouvray AOC
'' Accessed: September 23rd, 2009

Wine

The Arbois grapevine is highly vigorous and prone to producing high yields. If the yields are not kept in check, the white wines produced from the grapes can be less refined in flavor. Compared to the Chenin blanc grape that is found throughout the Loire, Arbois tends to produce softer wines with less noticeable

acidity An acid is a molecule or ion capable of either donating a proton (i.e. hydrogen cation, H+), known as a Brønsted–Lowry acid, or forming a covalent bond with an electron pair, known as a Lewis acid. The first category of acids are the ...

. Oz Clarke ''Encyclopedia of Grapes'' pg 38 Harcourt Books 2001 For this reason, Arbois has mostly been valued as a "softening" agent to the higher acid varieties of Chenin blanc, Savagnin and

Romorantin Romorantin is a traditional French variety of white wine grape, that is a sibling of Chardonnay. Once quite widely grown in the Loire, it has now only seen in the . It produces intense, minerally wines somewhat reminiscent of Chablis. Histor ...

Synonyms

Among the synonyms that Arbois is known under throughout

France France, officially the French Republic, is a country located primarily in Western Europe. Overseas France, Its overseas regions and territories include French Guiana in South America, Saint Pierre and Miquelon in the Atlantic Ocean#North Atlan ...

are Menu Pineau and Petit Pineau. Other synonyms include Herbois, Orbois and Verdet.

References

{{reflist White wine grape varieties