Picardan or Picardan blanc 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 ...

which is one of 13 permitted blending grapes within the

Châteauneuf-du-Pape AOC Châteauneuf-du-Pape () is a French wine, an ''Appellation d'origine contrôlée'' (AOC) located around the village of Châteauneuf-du-Pape in the Rhône wine, Rhône wine region in southeastern France. It is one of the most renowned appellations ...

in Rhône wine region in

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 ...

, although very little planted. The Vitis International Variety Catalogue previously listed Oeillade blanche as the primary name of the variety,Vitis International Variety Catalogue: Oeillade blanche
accessed on May 5, 2008 but now identifies Araignan as the primary name. However, since the variety is practically unknown for any other use than the Châteauneuf-du-Pape blend, it most commonly goes under the name used for it in that appellation. Picardan gives a wine which considered to be light and rather neutral in character.

Wine

Picardan is also the name of a historical white wine from

Languedoc The Province of Languedoc (, , ; ) is a former province of France. Most of its territory is now contained in the modern-day region of Occitanie in Southern France. Its capital city was Toulouse. It had an area of approximately . History ...

, usually sweetish in character, traded in the late 17th and 18th centuries. It is supposed to have been produced from the varieties Clairette blanche and Piquepoul blanc.

Synonyms and relationship to other grapes

Synonyms include: Aragnan, Aragnan blanc, Araignan, Araignan blanc, Gallet, Gallet blanc, Grosse Clairette, Milhaud blanc, Oeillade blanche, Papadoux, Picardan, Picardan blanc, Piquardan, Piquardant. Picardan (but not Picardan blanc) is also a synonym for the white grape variety

Bourboulenc Bourboulenc is a white wine grape variety primarily grown in southern France. The variety is found in the regions Southern Rhône, Provence and Languedoc. Bourboulenc is a late-ripening grape variety with tight bunches of large grapes, that can ...

, which is also found in Châteauneuf-du-Pape, and the dark-skinned variety Bouchales. Picardan noir is a synonym for

Cinsaut Cinsaut or Cinsault ( , ) is a red wine grape whose heat tolerance and productivity make it important in Languedoc-Roussillon and the former French colonies of Algeria, Lebanon, and Morocco. It is often blended with grapes such as Grenache an ...

and Bouchales. Despite the synonym ''Oeillade blanche'', Picardan is not a

color mutation The propagation of grapevines is an important consideration in commercial viticulture and winemaking. Grapevines, most of which belong to the ''Vitis vinifera ''Vitis vinifera'', the common grape vine, is a species of flowering plant, native t ...

of the

and

Provence wine Provence wine or Provençal wine (, ) comes from the French wine-producing region of Provence in southeast France. The Romans called the area ''provincia nostra'' ("our province"), giving the region its name. Just south of the Alps, it was the fi ...

grape

Oeillade noire Œillade noire () is a red French wine grape variety that has been historically grown in the Languedoc (wine), Languedoc and Provence wine region but it is now close to extinction. The grape is often confused for the Rhone wine grape Cinsault whi ...

.J. Robinson, J. Harding and J. Vouillamoz ''Wine Grapes - A complete guide to 1,368 vine varieties, including their origins and flavours'' pg 743, Allen Lane 2012

References

{{reflist White wine grape varieties