Grape Guide
Folle Blanche
WhiteFolle Blanche is a vigorous, high-acid white grape from western and southwestern France, historically the backbone of the base wines distilled for Cognac and Armagnac. Plantings have collapsed since phylloxera, and today it survives mainly as the grape of Gros Plant du Pays Nantais, with small holdings in the brandy regions, the Basque Country and California.
Key Characteristics
- Probable offspring of Gouais Blanc; second parent unknown
- Parent of Baco Blanc, Folignan, Monbadon and Merlot Blanc
- Early budding, so exposed to spring frost
- Compact bunches very prone to botrytis; also black rot and mites
- Fertile and productive, ripening mid-season
Typical Flavors
Major Regions
Pays Nantais (Gros Plant du Pays Nantais AOC) · Cognac · Armagnac (Gers and Landes) · Basque Country (Spain) · Catalonia (brandy) · California
Also Known As
Chalosse Blanche (Gers · Landes) · Dame Blanche (Lot-et-Garonne) · Enrageat or Enragé (Gironde) · Folle (Charente) · Gros Plant (Pays Nantais · Vendée) · Mune Mahatsa (País Vasco) · Piquepoul (Gascogne) · Piquepoul du Gers (Lot-et-Garonne)
Overview
Folle Blanche is a fertile, early-budding white grape that gives thin, piercingly acidic base wines with modest alcohol. Those qualities made it the preferred raw material for distillation in western and southwestern France, where a tart, neutral wine yields fine, floral brandy. As a table wine it is lean and saline, closest in spirit to a rustic Muscadet, and it suits young drinking with oysters and other shellfish. Its fortunes turn on a paradox. The vine crops heavily but is hard to keep healthy: compact bunches rot, buds are caught by spring frost, and grafting onto American rootstock proved awkward after phylloxera. Growers replaced it with sturdier varieties, and French plantings fell from 15,865 hectares in 1958 to 1,770 hectares in 2009. What remains is concentrated in the Pays Nantais, with small, deliberate revivals in Cognac and Armagnac.
Origins & History
A planting specification for a white vineyard at Chérac, in the Charente-Maritime, dated 1696, holds the first known mention: a third of the plot was to be Folle Blanche. The name uses folle, the feminine of fou, French for mad, most likely a reference to the vine's vigor. Other synonyms reflect the same idea. Gros Plant (big vine) is recorded in the Loire-Atlantique from 1732, and Enrageat (enraged) shows up in the southwest from 1736. Genetic testing indicates that Gouais Blanc is probably one parent of Folle Blanche, while the other parent remains unidentified. The variety has in turn fathered Monbadon and Merlot Blanc, the latter now very rare. By appearance it falls into the Folle group, alongside Meslier Saint-François and Petit Meslier. Later genetic studies uncovered parent-offspring or sibling relationships with Jurançon Blanc, Jurançon Noir, Montils and Meslier Saint-François. These findings suggest the variety arose in the Gers or Landes, then travelled to the Charente and on to the Loire estuary. Despite the Gascon habit of calling it Piquepoul, it has no relation to Piquepoul Blanc. Nor is it a color mutation of Jurançon Noir or Fuella Nera, both of which go by the name Folle Noire. Before phylloxera arrived, it was the leading grape of Cognac and Armagnac, furnishing the coastal eaux-de-vie that Dutch merchants purchased. Grafting it onto American rootstock went badly, so Ugni Blanc replaced it in Cognac and Baco Blanc in Armagnac. François Baco bred Baco Blanc in 1898 from Folle Blanche and Noah, and it survived a planned phase-out to remain an authorised Armagnac variety. Folle Blanche is also a parent of Baco Noir and of Folignan, which INRA created in 1965 by crossing it with Ugni Blanc.
Viticultural Characteristics
Folle Blanche is fertile and productive, and it ripens in mid-season. Early budding exposes it to spring frost. The tightly packed bunches make it highly prone to botrytis bunch rot, and it is also vulnerable to black rot and mites, more moderately to downy mildew and trunk diseases. Grey rot is the chief complaint in Cognac and black rot in Armagnac. Its poor affinity with American rootstocks after phylloxera was a decisive reason for abandoning it. In the Pays Nantais it grows on thin soils close to the Atlantic, where acidity stays very high and alcohol low. Restrained yields and a healthy harvest are essential to avoid dilute, rot-tainted fruit.
Wine Styles & Characteristics
The standard expression is a dry, unoaked, high-acid white of light body and low alcohol, best served young and cold. Gros Plant du Pays Nantais is the benchmark: citrus and green apple fruit, a saline, stony edge and bracing tartness, often matured on the lees and sold as sur lie for a little more weight. In the brandy regions the variety supplies a thin, acid wine that distils into eaux-de-vie often described as floral and elegant, prized for young and blanche bottlings. Varietal Armagnac and Cognac are made in tiny volumes. In the Basque Country it is a minor blending partner.