Grolleau (), or Grolleau noir, is a red

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 ...

that is grown primarily in the Loire Valley of France. The name is derived from the French word ''grolle'', meaning "

crow A crow is a bird of the genus ''Corvus'', or more broadly, a synonym for all of ''Corvus''. The word "crow" is used as part of the common name of many species. The related term "raven" is not linked scientifically to any certain trait but is rathe ...

", and is said to reflect the deep black berries of the Grolleau vine.Oz Clarke & M. Rand ''Encyclopedia of Grapes'' p. 113 Webster International Publishers It is most commonly made into

rosé A rosé () is a type of wine that incorporates some of the wine color, color from the grape skins, but not enough to qualify it as a red wine. It may be the oldest known type of wine, as it is the most straightforward to make with the Macerati ...

wine, particularly in the Anjou region. Grolleau wines tend to have a low

alcohol Alcohol may refer to: Common uses * Alcohol (chemistry), a class of compounds * Ethanol, one of several alcohols, commonly known as alcohol in everyday life ** Alcohol (drug), intoxicant found in alcoholic beverages ** Alcoholic beverage, an alco ...

content and relatively high

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 ...

.J. Robinson ''Vines Grapes & Wines'' p. 199 Mitchell Beazley 1986

History

The first documented plantings of Grolleau occurred in the

Charente Charente (; Saintongese: ''Chérente''; ) is a department in the administrative region of Nouvelle-Aquitaine, southwestern France. It is named after the river Charente, the most important and longest river in the department, and also the r ...

region in the early 19th century. Ampelographers believe that the grape is likely related to the ancient variety

Gouais blanc Gouais blanc () or Weißer Heunisch () is a white grape variety that is seldom grown today but is important as the ancestor of many traditional French and German grape varieties. The name ''Gouais'' derives from the old French adjective ‘ ...

.VITIS Ampelographical Dictionary '
Grolleau
'' (in French) Accessed: 24 September 2009 The Grolleau vine's greatest popularity occurred during the mid- to late 20th century with the widespread marketing of ''Rosé d'Anjou'' wine, of which Grolleau was the principal component. Often blended with

Gamay Gamay () is a purple-colored grape variety used to make red wines, most notably grown in Beaujolais and in the Loire_Valley_(wine), Loire Valley around Tours. Its full name is Gamay Noir à Jus Blanc. It is a very old cultivar, mentioned as lon ...

, Grolleau-based Rosé d'Anjou was a

sweet Sweetness is a basic taste most commonly perceived when eating foods rich in sugars. Sweet tastes are generally regarded as pleasurable. In addition to sugars like sucrose, many other chemical compounds are sweet, including aldehydes, ketones, ...

wine. Towards the turn of the 21st century, ''Rosé d'Anjou'' (and by extension Grolleau), started to fall out of favor in lieu of the

Cabernet Franc Cabernet Franc is one of the major black grape varieties worldwide. It is principally grown for blending with Cabernet Sauvignon and Merlot in the Bordeaux (wine), Bordeaux style, but can also be vinified alone, as in the Loire (wine), Loire's C ...

and

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 Lebano ...

–dominated rosé Cabernet d'Anjou. By 2000 there were only 5,500 acres (2,200 hectares) of Grolleau planted in the Middle Loire.J. Robinson (ed) ''"The Oxford Companion to Wine"'' Third Edition p. 334 Oxford University Press 2006 The decline has been attributed, in part, to Grolleau's reputation for poor quality as noted by wine experts such as

Jancis Robinson Jancis Mary Robinson OBE, ComMA, MW (born 22 April 1950) is a British wine critic, journalist and wine writer. She currently writes a weekly column for the ''Financial Times'', and writes for her website JancisRobinson.com, updated daily. She ...

J. Robinson ''Jancis Robinson's Wine Course'' Third Edition p. 182 Abbeville Press 2003 and Tom Stevenson.T. Stevenson ''"The Sotheby's Wine Encyclopedia"'' pp. 202-204 Dorling Kindersley 2005 Wine critic Robert M. Parker, Jr., has taken a dim view of Grolleau's potential, recommending in his wine buying guide that growers in the Loire Valley should rip up all Grolleau vines and replace them with grape varieties that have more potential for quality wine production such as Gamay and Cabernet Franc. Alice Feiring '
New Years Day Grolleau
"'' ''Veritas in Vino'', 2 January 2005

Wine regions

The Grolleau vine is found mostly in the Middle Loire region where it is a permitted grape variety for the rosé ''

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)s of Anjou, Touraine and Saumur AOC. The grape is limited to just rosé wines and is not permitted by AOC regulations into the red blends of these regions. It is also permitted as an ingredient in the

sparkling wine Sparkling wine is a wine with significant levels of carbon dioxide in it, making it fizzy. While it is common to refer to this as champagne, European Union countries legally reserve that word for products exclusively produced in the Champagne ( ...

s of the Cremant de Loire, Anjou AOC and Saumur AOC.

Viticulture

Grolleau is a high yielding grapevine that ripens reliably and relatively early for the cool climate Loire Valley-often right after Gamay. The vine produces medium-sized clusters clinging to the vine via its long, slender pedicels. The grapes are thin skinned with few phenolic compounds, but after '' veraison'' they produce color ranging from gray to bluish/black depending on the clone. There are currently five clones of the Grolleau vine authorized for viticulture in France. The vine tends to

bud In botany, a bud is an undeveloped or Plant embryogenesis, embryonic Shoot (botany), shoot and normally occurs in the axil of a leaf or at the tip of a Plant stem, stem. Once formed, a bud may remain for some time in a dormancy, dormant conditi ...

early which renders it susceptible to damage from spring

frost Frost is a thin layer of ice on a solid surface, which forms from water vapor that deposits onto a freezing surface. Frost forms when the air contains more water vapor than it can normally hold at a specific temperature. The process is simila ...

s. Its long branches make its susceptible to wind damage, requiring that it be planted near hillside shelter. Grolleau is sensitive to several grape diseases including excoriose and stem rot.

Wines

Grolleau produces light bodied, fairly neutral wines with noticeably high acidity. It is often produced in off-dry to medium sweet style, leaving some sugars in the wine to balance with the acidity.

Grolleau gris

Grolleau gris is the pink-skinned

mutation In biology, a mutation is an alteration in the nucleic acid sequence of the genome of an organism, virus, or extrachromosomal DNA. Viral genomes contain either DNA or RNA. Mutations result from errors during DNA or viral replication, ...

of Grolleau noir planted primarily in the Loire Valley. It is used mainly for the white wines of the '' Vin de Pays du Jardin de la France''.J. Robinson ''Jancis Robinson's Wine Course'' Third Edition p. 112 Abbeville Press 2003

Synonyms

Grolleau is also known under the synonyms Bourdalès, Franc noir, Gamay de Châtillon (in Savennières), Gamay-Groslot, Gloire de Tours, Grolleau de Cinq-Mars, Grolleau de Touraine, Grolleau de Tours, Grolleau noir, Grolo Chernyi, Grolot noir, Groslot, Groslot de Cinq-Mars, Groslot de Valère, Groslot de Vallères, Moinard, Moinard Grolleau, Neri, Noir de Saumur, Pineau de Saumur, Plant Boisnard, Plant Mini, and Rosé d'Anjou.Grolleau noir
,

Vitis International Variety Catalogue The Vitis International Variety Catalogue (VIVC) is a database of various species and varieties/cultivars of grapevine, the genus ''Vitis''. VIVC is administered by the Geilweilerhof Institute for Grape Breeding (''Institut für Rebenzüchtung G ...

, accessed 24 November 2010 Grolleau gris is also known under the synonyms Grolleau, Groslot de la Thibaudière, and Groslot gris.GrolleaugGris
,

, accessed 24 November 2010

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Grolleau (Grape) Red wine grape varieties