Grape Guide
Petit Courbu
WhitePetit Courbu is a small-berried, late-ripening white grape of the French Pyrenean foothills, grown mainly in Pacherenc du Vic-Bilh, Saint-Mont, Irouléguy and Jurançon. Long treated as a blending partner for the Mansengs, it gives lemony, floral wines of fine texture and is increasingly bottled alone or as the lead variety in dry whites.
Key characteristics
- Separate variety from Courbu Blanc and Lauzet, confirmed by DNA profiling
- Late ripening, with low yields
- Very small berries borne in small clusters
- Susceptible to botrytis bunch rot
- Plantings of roughly 70 to 100 hectares in France, up from about 10 in 1958
Typical flavors
Major regions
Pacherenc du Vic-Bilh · Saint-Mont · Irouléguy · Jurançon · Béarn · Spanish Basque Country (as Xuri Zerratu)
Also known as
Courbis · Courbu Petit · Petit Courbu Blanc · Vieux Pacherenc · Xuri Zerratu (Spanish Basque Country)
Petit Courbu is a white variety of the Pyrenean foothills of south-west France, found in the vineyards of Gascony, Béarn and the French Basque Country. It is not a small-berried form of Courbu Blanc, as was once supposed, but a separate variety with its own DNA profile. Vines are low-yielding and ripen late, which makes the grape a demanding one to place, but it keeps good acidity and delivers lemon, white blossom and, with age, a honeyed note.
Most of the crop goes into blends with Gros Manseng, Petit Manseng, Arrufiac and Courbu Blanc, where it adds aroma and a silky mid-palate. A small number of growers, led by Alain Brumont in Pacherenc du Vic-Bilh, bottle it almost alone as a dry white, and these wines are valued for their precision and ability to develop on the lees and in bottle. Plantings remain tiny, on the order of 70 to 100 hectares in France.
Petit Courbu comes from the Pyrenean piedmont of south-west France, with Jurançon and the Pacherenc du Vic-Bilh zone as its best documented homes. Its name, meaning "little Courbu", points to the smaller berries and bunches compared with Courbu Blanc, and for much of the twentieth century the two were treated as relatives or even as one vine; the shared local names Courbis and Vieux Pacherenc added to the muddle.
The ampelographer Pierre Galet proposed in 1990 that Petit Courbu was a clonal variant of Courbu Blanc. Ampelographic comparison and microsatellite profiling, published by Bowers and colleagues in 1999 and by Bordenave and colleagues in 2007, showed that the two have different profiles, and that Petit Courbu is also distinct from Lauzet, a Jurançon-area variety it was sometimes confused with. No parentage has been established for it.
Like many minor local varieties, it shrank through the twentieth century, and by 1958 it covered only about 10 hectares in France. A revival followed as Pacherenc du Vic-Bilh and neighbouring appellations promoted their traditional white grapes: French plantings reached about 68 hectares in 2008, and some statistics give around 100 hectares in 2010. In the Spanish Basque Country it is listed under the name Xuri Zerratu.
Petit Courbu is a low-yielding vine whose clusters are compact and whose berries are very small. It ripens late, so it relies on the long, mild autumns of the Pyrenean foothills to reach full maturity. It is prone to botrytis bunch rot when rain falls close to harvest, a risk for dry wines that calls for careful crop control and timely picking. Its modest productivity is thought to be one reason growers abandoned it for easier varieties, and it explains why plantings have recovered only slowly. Well-drained slopes and moderate vigour help to preserve its acidity and aromatic definition, and the small berries give concentrated juice from a modest crop.
Dry white is the main modern expression. Pacherenc du Vic-Bilh sec, Irouléguy blanc and Jurançon sec use Petit Courbu as a perfumed, finely textured partner for Gros Manseng and Petit Manseng. A few estates bottle it at or near 100 percent, typically in stainless steel or large oak with a year on the lees to build weight without losing freshness; Alain Brumont's Les Jardins Philosophiques from Château Bouscassé is built on Petit Courbu with some Petit Manseng and aged ten to twelve months on its lees. The wines show lemon, floral notes and, with bottle age, honey.
Petit Courbu is also a permitted component of the sweet Pacherenc du Vic-Bilh moelleux, although Petit Manseng is the grape that carries those wines. Red, rosé and sparkling wines do not feature in its record.
Where it grows
Pacherenc du Vic-Bilh
The core appellation for the variety, in the hills of Gers, Hautes-Pyrénées and Pyrénées-Atlantiques that share ground with Madiran. It has long been a principal variety there, and the specification revised in 2025 lists it among the principal grapes for the dry (sec) wines, with Petit Manseng and Gros Manseng. Alain Brumont (Château Bouscassé, Château Montus) and Domaine Laougué are the estates most closely tied to its varietal bottlings.
Saint-Mont
The specification names Gros Manseng as the leading white grape, with Petit Courbu and Arrufiac as complementary varieties and Courbu and Petit Manseng as accessory ones. Producers in the Plaimont group work with it in blended whites.
Irouléguy
White wine may be made from Courbu, Gros Manseng, Petit Courbu and Petit Manseng, and Petit Courbu usually plays a minor part beside Petit Manseng and Gros Manseng.
Jurançon and Béarn
It is a minor partner in dry Jurançon and Béarn whites, rarely more than a quarter of a blend; Camin Larredya's Jurançon Sec La Virada, for instance, has included it beside Gros Manseng and Petit Manseng.
Spanish Basque Country
Listed there as Xuri Zerratu; it is marginal, and the vines grown under Basque local names have not always been identified consistently.