Savagnin rose () or Roter Traminer is a

variety Variety may refer to: Arts and entertainment Entertainment formats * Variety (radio) * Variety show, in theater and television Films * ''Variety'' (1925 film), a German silent film directed by Ewald Andre Dupont * ''Variety'' (1935 film), ...

of wine

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 ...

.Savagnin Rose

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 on June 20, 2010 It has a pink, reddish or brownish red skin colour, but is counted as a

white wine White wine is a wine that is Fermentation in winemaking, fermented without undergoing the process of Maceration (wine), maceration, which involves prolonged contact between the juice with the grape skins, seeds, and pulp. The wine color, colou ...

grape since it does not have the deep purple/blue/black colour of

red wine Red wine is a type of wine made from dark-colored grape varieties - (red grapes.) The color of the wine can range from intense violet, typical of young wines, through to brick red for mature wines and brown for older red wines. The juice fro ...

grapes. Savagnin rose is a member of the

Traminer 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 ...

family of grapes, and as such is related to both Savagnin Blanc and

Gewürztraminer Gewürztraminer () is an aromatic wine grape variety, used in white wines, and which performs best in cooler climates. In English, it is sometimes referred to colloquially as Gewürz ( ; although this is never the case in German, because mean ...

. It has a different skin colour than Savagnin Blanc, and does not have the aromatic properties of the much more common

, which is a

musqué ''Musqué'' is a French language, French term applied to certain variety (botany), varieties or clone (plant), clones of grapes used for making wine. The term means both perfumed ("musky") and Muscat (grape and wine), Muscat-like, and indicates t ...

mutation of Savagnin rose, or of a similar red-skinned Traminer variety. Savagnin rose is now relatively rare in cultivation, and primarily found only in pure plantation and varietal wines in

Alsace Alsace (, ; ) is a cultural region and a territorial collectivity in the Grand Est administrative region of northeastern France, on the west bank of the upper Rhine, next to Germany and Switzerland. In January 2021, it had a population of 1,9 ...

, where the designation Klevener de Heiligenstein denotes a wine produced from Savagnin rose. It is also likely that a proportion of non-musqué red Traminer exists side by side with musqué red Traminer/Gewürztraminer in older vineyards of

Germany Germany, officially the Federal Republic of Germany, is a country in Central Europe. It lies between the Baltic Sea and the North Sea to the north and the Alps to the south. Its sixteen States of Germany, constituent states have a total popu ...

and

Austria Austria, formally the Republic of Austria, is a landlocked country in Central Europe, lying in the Eastern Alps. It is a federation of nine Federal states of Austria, states, of which the capital Vienna is the List of largest cities in Aust ...

. The vines of the Savagnin rose variety planted in Alsace bear striking similarities, morphologically, to Gewürztraminer vines and are almost indistinguishable on inspection. Outside of

DNA testing Genetic testing, also known as DNA testing, is used to identify changes in DNA sequence or chromosome structure. Genetic testing can also include measuring the results of genetic changes, such as RNA analysis as an output of gene expression, or ...

and analysis of the wine that both grapes produce, the only noticeable difference is that just prior to ''

veraison In viticulture, veraison (, ) is the onset of the ripening of the grapes. The official definition of ''veraison'' is "change of color of the grape berries". Veraison represents the transition from berry growth to berry ripening, and many changes ...

'' the grapes of Savagnin rose turn almost

translucent In the field of optics, transparency (also called pellucidity or diaphaneity) is the physical property of allowing light to pass through the material without appreciable light scattering by particles, scattering of light. On a macroscopic scale ...

while the skins of Gewürztraminer grapes are more

opaque Opacity is the measure of impenetrability to electromagnetic or other kinds of radiation, especially visible light. In radiative transfer, it describes the absorption and scattering of radiation in a medium, such as a plasma, dielectric, shie ...

. The most obvious way to distinguish the two was to compare the type of wines that each produces, with Gewürztraminer wine being much more aromatic. Until the 1970s, winemakers would label wines of better quality "Gewürztraminer" and wines of lesser quality "Traminer" or "Klevener de Heiligenstein", regardless of the final composition of Gewürztraminer, Savagnin rose and/or Traminer in the wine. In 1973, the names Traminer and Savagnin rose were discontinued from use on Alsatian wine labels. Due to the significant plantings of Savagnin rose in Heiligenstein and the villages around it, the wine style of "Klevener de Heiligenstein" was granted a grace period for use of that name.Oz Clarke ''Encyclopedia of Grapes'' pg 105 Harcourt Books 2001

Synonyms

For the Traminer family in general, it is difficult to establish where the line goes between synonyms and different varieties. Savagnin rose is however also known under the synonyms Clevner, Drumin, Fromenteau rouge, Heiligensteiner Clevner, Heiligensteiner Klevner, Klevner Livora, Livora Cervena, Prinç, Prinç Ceverny, Roter Traminer, Ryvola, Savagnin rose non musqué, Tramin Cerveny, Tramin Diseci, Tramin Korenny, Tramin Rdeci, Traminac Crveni, Traminac Rdeci, Traminer rose, Traminer Rot, Traminer Roz.

References

{{reflist White wine grape varieties

Synonyms

See also

References