Wine Arcana

Grape

Vignoles

Also known as Ravat 51

Vignoles is a French-bred white hybrid grape with an established role in the American Midwest. Missouri's wine organization describes a range extending from dry whites through sweet and late-harvest wines. Its appeal to winemakers therefore involves both fruit character and flexibility, rather than one prescribed sweetness level.

The vineyard presents a more difficult side of that versatility: compact bunches are vulnerable to rot. Decisions about hanging fruit longer must account for fruit condition as well as the style the winemaker hopes to make.

Identity and a revised pedigree

Also known as Ravat 51, Vignoles was bred by J. F. Ravat. Its familiar historical pedigree, Seibel 6905 crossed with Pinot Noir, should not be repeated as settled fact. Foundation Plant Services reports that genetic work challenged that account and records Plantet × Seibel 880 instead. The catalogue attributes the replacement parentage to DNA results communicated privately by Montpellier researchers.1. Foundation Plant Services, “Vignoles,” pedigree notes, including the distinction between published doubts and later communicated DNA results.

Bunch structure and disease

USDA Agricultural Research Service reporting identifies tight clusters as a particular problem: crowded berries favour Botrytis bunch rot and sour rot, while making spray coverage within a bunch more difficult. This is a physical feature with consequences beyond a general disease-resistance rating.

ARS and Cornell researchers have evaluated looser-clustered selections, including one called Vignoles 2. The work seeks to reduce rot through a change in bunch architecture within the variety. Trial improvements should not be read as freedom from vineyard disease.2. USDA ARS, “Valentine Vignoles,” account of Cornell–ARS work on loose-clustered selections.

Missouri and wine style

Missouri's regional account places Vignoles among its important white grapes and describes pineapple, peach and apricot among the wine's possible fruit associations. It also records its use in blends. A dry version and a sweet one can consequently offer quite different introductions to the same variety.

Residual sugar changes the balance of a wine, but late harvest describes a vineyard decision rather than a guaranteed taste. Leaving grapes longer exposes the crop to additional weather and rot risk. With Vignoles, the condition of those compact bunches is part of the explanation for what ultimately reaches the cellar.

Sources