Grape Guide
Courbu Blanc
WhiteCourbu Blanc is a minor white variety of the Pyrenean foothills in south-west France, grown mostly in Béarn and the French Basque Country as a supporting grape beside Gros Manseng and Petit Manseng. Its wines are fairly alcoholic with moderate acidity, made dry or sweet, and the same vine is reported to be the principal grape of Spanish Basque Txakoli under the name Hondarrabi Zuri.
Key characteristics
- Genetically distinct from Petit Courbu, Courbu Noir and Arrufiac, despite long confusion
- Bunches are small and the berries are tiny
- Mid ripening; brittle shoots make it prone to wind damage, so long pruning is best
- Susceptible to botrytis bunch rot
- Only about 43 ha in France in 2008
Typical flavors
Major regions
Jurançon · Pacherenc du Vic-Bilh · Irouléguy · Béarn · Getariako Txakolina (as Hondarrabi Zuri) · Bizkaiko Txakolina
Also known as
Courbeau · Courbi Blanc · Courbis Blanc · Courbu · Courbut Blanc · Courbu Gros · Courtoisie (Portet) · Vieux Pacherenc (Lembeye) · Hondarribi Zuri (País Vasco · shared with other varieties)
Courbu Blanc is one of the quieter members of the south-western French white wine cast. It rarely appears on a label by itself. Growers in Jurançon, Béarn, Pacherenc du Vic-Bilh and Irouléguy plant it for the weight and alcohol it adds to blends built mainly on Gros Manseng and Petit Manseng, and in a few cellars it is bottled alone. The wines are moderate in acidity, reasonably high in alcohol and can be made in dry or sweet versions, with citrus and stone-fruit flavours.
The variety is easily confused with its neighbours. Courbu is a name shared by several unrelated vines of the Pyrénées-Atlantiques, and growers and nurseries have long mixed up Courbu Blanc with Petit Courbu, Arrufiac and Crouchen. Across the border in the Spanish Basque Country the vine appears to be far more important than in France, because it is generally held to be the grape that Txakoli producers call Hondarrabi Zuri.
Courbu is a name attached to several different vines in the Pyrénées-Atlantiques and the Basque Country, on both sides of the frontier. A white Courbu is first recorded in Jurançon in 1783, and the name probably refers to the curved (courbé) shape of the shoots. In 1990 a leading French ampelographer treated Courbu Blanc as a colour mutation of the red Courbu Noir, and Petit Courbu as a mere clone of Courbu Blanc. DNA profiling in 1999 showed that neither idea held up: the three are distinct varieties. Courbu Blanc also differs from Arrufiac, a vine with which it is often confused in Jurançon vineyards. No parentage has been published for Courbu Blanc. Its leaf and vine morphology places it in a group of related Courbu types that also includes Crouchen, and that resemblance helps explain why the two are so often swapped in the Basque Country.
The Spanish story is tangled. Courbu Blanc is thought to have travelled to the Hondarribia area of the País Vasco, where it took the local name Hondarribi Zuri, meaning white Hondarribi. That name was also given to Crouchen, and one reference sample sold under it was found by DNA to be Noah, an American hybrid. Later profiling of the variety grown commercially for Txakoli indicated that it is Courbu Blanc, although some sources still describe the name as covering more than one vine. The French origin is therefore best described only as the Pyrenean foothills, with the exact point unknown.
Courbu Blanc is sensitive to wind, and its shoots are easily damaged, so it does best in sheltered sites with long pruning and, ideally, grafting onto a low-vigour rootstock. Bunches are small and the berries are very small, which keeps yields modest and gives a high ratio of skin to juice. Ripening is mid-season. The variety is susceptible to botrytis bunch rot, which suits sweet wine but is a hazard for dry styles in wet autumns, so good air movement through the canopy matters. Plantings are so limited that little clonal selection has been reported, and most of the vines in the ground are old selections. Old plots are valued by growers who want the variety for its concentration rather than for volume.
In France, Courbu Blanc is usually one component of a blend. In Jurançon it adds body and some roundness to the Mansengs, and in Pacherenc du Vic-Bilh it is a permitted accessory grape in both dry (sec) and sweet whites. Irouléguy producers use it in dry whites alongside the Mansengs. The wines are reasonably high in alcohol with moderate acidity, so the grape tends to contribute weight and a lemon-citrus tone, while Petit Manseng supplies most of the acid structure. Typical flavours run to lemon, grapefruit, nectarine and apricot, with a honeyed note in sweet wines. Varietal bottlings are scarce; Clos Lacabe in Jurançon is among the few estates to have made one, under the name Compère Lutin. In Spain, wines labelled Hondarrabi Zuri are dry, crisp, modest in alcohol and often faintly spritzy in the Txakoli style, and they are made from what is probably the same variety.
Where it grows
Jurançon
Courbu is one of four supporting grapes beside Camaralet de Lasseube, Petit Courbu and Lauzet. The Mansengs must make up more than half of a grower's plantings, and sweet wines labelled vendanges tardives may come only from Gros Manseng and Petit Manseng. Clos Lapeyre has Courbu vines planted in the 1940s and has recently added young plantings of Courbu Blanc.
Pacherenc du Vic-Bilh
Under the specification revised in 2025, Petit Manseng is the principal grape and Courbu is an accessory grape, alongside Arrufiac, Gros Manseng, Petit Courbu and Sauvignon. For dry wines, which carry the word sec, Petit Courbu, Petit Manseng and Gros Manseng are principal, and Courbu, Arrufiac and Sauvignon are accessory. The principal grapes must cover at least 60 percent of a grower's vineyard.
Irouléguy
Courbu is one of four white grapes permitted by the appellation, with Gros Manseng, Petit Courbu and Petit Manseng. Plantings are small, and the appellation is better known for its Tannat-based reds.
Béarn
Courbu is a minor ingredient in the white wines of this wider Pyrenean appellation, again alongside the Mansengs.
País Vasco (Spain)
Hondarrabi Zuri is the leading white grape of the three Txakoli denominations, Getariako Txakolina, Bizkaiko Txakolina and Arabako Txakolina. If the genetic identity with Courbu Blanc holds, this is where most of the variety is grown.