Grape Guide
Prunelard
RedPrunelard is a rare black-berried variety of the Tarn in south-west France, best known as the father of Cot (Malbec). Nearly lost by the late twentieth century, it still covers a very small area, but it makes dark, full-bodied plum-and-spice reds that age well and since 2017 ranks as a principal grape in Gaillac.
Key characteristics
- Pollen parent of Cot (Malbec), crossed with Magdeleine Noire des Charentes
- Parent-offspring relationship with Mérille, also a Tarn-area variety
- Mid ripening and fairly vigorous, with modest yields
- Small, compact bunches with low susceptibility to botrytis
- Vulnerable to mites in spring
Typical flavors
Major regions
Gaillac (Tarn) · Côtes du Tarn IGP · Tarn-et-Garonne · Haute-Garonne
Also known as
Prunelart
Prunelard is a black-skinned variety native to the Tarn and adjoining parts of south-west France. Its name derives from the Occitan word for plum, a nod to the berries' shape and colour alike. It sits within the Cot ampelographic group, and Mérille is linked to it as parent or offspring, but it is chiefly remembered as the pollen parent of Cot, the grape that went on to become Malbec.
In the glass, Prunelard offers deep colour, full body, firm structure and often generous alcohol, with ripe plum and spice on both nose and palate. Plantings are tiny and clustered around Gaillac, where a handful of estates bottle it as a varietal wine or as the main component of a blend. Under the Gaillac appellation rules revised in 2017 it is one of the four principal red and rosé varieties, after several years as an accessory grape capped at 10%.
Prunelard was part of the Gaillac vineyard by the middle of the nineteenth century, when it was grown alongside Duras, Mauzac and other local varieties. Its name is taken from prunèl, a word for plum in the dialect of Languedoc. Old regional names make the literature confusing: Prunelat, recorded in the Gironde since the sixteenth century, refers to Cinsaut and/or Cot, and Prunelar has been used in the Ariège for Bobal. None of these is the Tarn variety, although several belong to the same Cot group of related ampelographic types.
Parentage analysis published around 2009 showed that Cot is a cross of Magdeleine Noire des Charentes and Prunelard. Magdeleine Noire is also the mother of Merlot, so Cot and Merlot are half siblings, and Prunelard is Cot's father. The same work found a parent-offspring link between Prunelard and Mérille. Some retail and trade sources repeat other fathers for Malbec, such as Cabernet Franc, but the Prunelard result is the one supported by genetic data.
The variety suffered through phylloxera and the postwar shift to more productive grapes. By the late 1980s and 1990s only one or two hectares survived, and counts differ. Domaine Plageoles in Gaillac propagated the remaining vines, and plantings reached about 13 ha by 2008. For many years it was excluded from appellation wines, so early bottlings were sold as vin de pays.
Prunelard ripens in mid season and is fairly vigorous, but it is not a heavy cropper, so it rewards low yields rather than volume. Bunches are small and compact, yet the vine resists botrytis bunch rot well, a useful trait in the damp autumns of the Tarn. It is, however, very prone to damage from mites in spring, which needs attention early in the season. Berries are black and the wines carry strong colour and tannin.
Varietal Prunelard is a dark, full-bodied red with firm but ripe tannins and robust alcohol, typically around 13.5 to 14.5% in warm vintages. Flavours run to ripe plum, blackberry, liquorice and spice, with a touch of leather or damp earth as the wine ages. Growers such as Domaine Plageoles, Domaine Carcenac, Laurent Cazottes and Domaine de Labarthe bottle it on its own, often with long ageing in concrete or older wood and a cellaring life of ten years or more. Blends are less common: one example is Domaine de la Ramaie, whose wine pairs Braucol (Fer) at 25% with Prunelard making up the remaining 75%. Because it has been a principal variety in the Gaillac rules since 2017, which require at least two of the four principal grapes in an estate's red and rosé plantings, it can appear in appellation reds without the old 10% cap. Most labels still say Côtes du Tarn IGP or Vin de France.
Where it grows
Gaillac
The variety's heartland. It was an accessory grape in the 2015 appellation rules and became one of four principal red and rosé varieties (with Duras, Fer and Syrah) in the 2017 revision, which also requires principal grapes to make up at least 70% of an estate's red and rosé plantings.
Côtes du Tarn IGP
The label under which most varietal Prunelard has been sold, including Plageoles bottlings that are aged in concrete and made with native yeasts.
Tarn-et-Garonne and Haute-Garonne
Historically grown from the Lavilledieu area to Gaillac and in the Haute-Garonne, where it was once widespread; plantings today are negligible.
Vin de France
Used by some independent growers near Gaillac, such as Laurent Cazottes, who bottle Prunelart outside appellation and IGP frameworks.