Grape Guide
Raffiat De Moncade
WhiteRaffiat de Moncade is a rare white variety of Béarn and the Landes in south-west France, for a long time confused with Arrufiac. It remains a principal white grape of the Béarn appellation, yet plantings have shrunk to a handful of hectares and varietal bottlings are almost unknown outside a few estates.
Key characteristics
- Offspring of Gouais Blanc, with Bouchalès proposed as the other parent
- Early budding and mid ripening
- Small berries borne in open, loosely filled clusters
- Fairly productive, with little susceptibility to powdery mildew
- Parent of the Bordeaux-bred crossings Arriloba, Agorra and Perdea
Typical flavors
Major regions
Béarn (Pyrénées-Atlantiques) · Orthez area · Landes · Gers
Also known as
Arréfiat (Béarn) · Arrufiat · Raffiat (Béarn) · Refiat (Jurançon) · Ruffiac
Raffiat de Moncade is a white-berried vine native to the Pyrenean foothills of south-west France, centred on Orthez in the Pyrénées-Atlantiques and on the neighbouring Landes. Its name is shared, through overlapping local synonyms, with the unrelated Arrufiac, and growers and ampelographers swapped the two for generations. It has official standing in the Béarn appellation, where the current specification lists it as a principal white variety alongside Gros Manseng and Petit Manseng.
In the glass it is a modest, fairly neutral white that carries plenty of alcohol. The few producers who bottle it on its own describe a rounded wine with pear, apple and floral aromas, sometimes with a musky, aniseed edge. Commercial importance is minimal, and the variety survives mainly as a regional heritage grape and as a parent in breeding work.
Raffiat de Moncade has long been grown in Béarn and the Landes, with Orthez as its historic centre. The earliest dependable written record is probably an 1827 survey of French viticulture that names a white grape, refiat, among those of the Jurançon area, although the local synonyms it has in common with Arrufiac make it hard to assign early records with confidence. The second half of the name refers to the Moncade family, medieval viscounts of Béarn, whose tower still stands in Orthez.
DNA studies carried out in the 2000s showed Gouais Blanc to be one parent, which places the variety among the many vines descended from that widely planted medieval grape. A later analysis has been reported to point to Bouchalès, another south-western variety, as the other parent, but the result rests on a small set of markers and other analyses have left the father unresolved, so it is best treated as probable rather than proven. Despite the synonyms the two share, Raffiat de Moncade is not related to Arrufiac.
The variety later served as a breeding parent. Crossed with Sauvignon Blanc at the INRA station in Bordeaux, it yielded Arriloba (credited to Pierre Durquety), and it is also recorded as a parent of Agorra and Perdea. French plantings declined from about 86 ha in 1979 to about 9 ha in 2008.
Raffiat de Moncade buds early and ripens in mid-season, so spring frost is a recognised risk in its home area at the foot of the Pyrenees. The vine is fairly productive, and its very small berries sit in open, loose clusters, a combination that suits the humid, Atlantic-influenced climate because such clusters dry quickly after rain. Susceptibility to powdery mildew is low, and some descriptions credit it with partial tolerance to grey rot. The Béarn specification treats it as a vigorous variety: pruning rules cap the number of buds left per vine at 16 for Raffiat de Moncade, Gros Manseng, Tannat and Manseng Noir, against 20 for other varieties in that text. The French register reports a single certified clone, numbered 465, so growers have almost no clonal choice.
Wines from Raffiat de Moncade tend to be dry, rounded and fairly neutral, with a warm, alcoholic frame and moderate acidity. Pear, apple and white flowers are the aromas most often reported by the rare estates that bottle it as a varietal. Other tasters have noted musky, aniseed and mint tones, rose petal and a faintly bitter finish that recalls a dry Muscat. Because the grape is neutral, it has traditionally been blended: in Béarn it sits in the white cuvée with the two Mansengs, which supply the aromatic lift and acidity that Raffiat lacks. Production is tiny and almost entirely dry; no regional tradition of sweet or sparkling Raffiat de Moncade is documented. Ageing in oak is not a documented feature of the few varietal examples. Its commercial reach is local, and the wine is usually sold from the cellar door or through regional merchants.
Where it grows
Béarn
The Béarn appellation, in the Pyrénées-Atlantiques, lists Raffiat de Moncade as a principal white variety together with Gros Manseng and Petit Manseng; Courbu, Petit Courbu, Camaralet de Lasseube, Lauzet and Sauvignon are accessory whites under the 2025 specification.
Orthez and the Landes
This is the historical heartland, where the Tour Moncade at Orthez gave the variety its name. A small heritage plot of the vine is maintained in the Orthez vineyard, which also grows Tannat.
Gers
The variety is officially recommended in the Gers, along with the Landes and Pyrénées-Atlantiques, but plantings there are marginal.
Jurançon (historical)
Early nineteenth-century records place a grape called refiat in the Jurançon vineyard, though the vine has long since disappeared from the appellation's working grape list.
Bordeaux (breeding)
At the Bordeaux INRA station, Raffiat de Moncade crossed with Sauvignon Blanc produced Arriloba, a variety that gives a fruity white reminiscent of Sauvignon.