NYTimes: French/American Hybrids in France.....

Somewhat interesting article in the NYTimes:
https://www.nytimes.com/2021/08/29/world/europe/france-wine-usa.html?action=click&module=Well&pgtype=Homepage&section=World%20News

on the efforts of the French authorities to stamp out wines produced from French/American hybrid grapes.
This has been an ongoing effort for yrs, w/ the French authorities once promoting the idea that these
wines are toxic & can kill you. That this is so is evidenced by the millions in America dying from drinking these wines.
Tom

Thanks for that Tom

I had to create an account to read the article, and I knew about this man and his organisation. I even emailed him but didn't get a reply.

There's a lot of Jacquez in South Africa used as root stock.

I researched Jacquez when writing my Pinotage book. It's a fascinating story - if one is interested in grape varieties and their history.

In The USA the legal name is Lenoir but it's also known as Black Spanish and I understand the TTB are in the process of allowing all three names to be used as synonyms. Which would be a mistake, as in the late 1800s when Jacquez proved its worth as a phylloxera resistant rootstock, it was propagated from seeds and those plants - while bearing the name Jacquez - did not carry the gene that gave phylloxera resistance.

I got a retired professor interested in why Jacquez was and remains a successful root stock in South Africa yet authorities in the rest of the world warned against its use. His comparisons of DNA showed that there are several versions, and that Jacquez is not the same as Lenoir and neither is the same as Black Spanish.

I managed to read that article going through Microsoft Edge but was paywalled on Mozilla.

I don't expect hybrid grapes like Jacquez or Clinton to appear in the composition of any of the important French AOP wines anytime soon, even if there are some successful plantations in the Ardèche and elsewhere. However, the health reasons given for banning it are pretty silly. The real reason was probably to avoid adulteration of the quality of French wines by use of "inferior" varieties; this is probably still valid. There is a long tradition for this in France; witness the well known banning of Gamay in Burgundy by Philippe le Hardi at the end of the 14th century.

The French authorities are awake to the need to adapt grape varieties to the changing climate and 6 experimental varieties have been authorized in Bordeaux. I posted about this a few weeks ago.

Also the younger generation of French growers is getting more adventurous about producing cuvées with grape varieties and cocktails not authorized in their local AOP. Falling into an IGP (Indication géographique protégée) or even Vin de France category no longer holds any terrors for them.

Vidal Blanc was at long last finally accepted for the production of Armagnac after years of trying to get growers to pull them up.

It's not that Jacquez doesn't and won't become an AOP wine in France, it's that it cannot be sold at all that grates with its exponents.

The EU allowed some hybrids in UK but they cannot have 'Quality Wine' status.

I've had the Black Spanish version more than once. It's grown in Southern Texas because its resistant to Pierces.

It's not that Jacquez doesn't and won't become an AOP wine in France, it's that it cannot be sold at all that grates with its exponents.

Still, I can understand why the authorities forbid the growing of the variety and the sale of wine made from it. In general the attitude of French farmers is that they will grow and produce their product as and how they think it should be done, and they won't let officialdom get in their way. There aren't very many AOP/AOC inspectors around and for the most part they have to take the producers' word for it that they're following the rules. So if the authorities are really serious about stamping out the hybrid direct producers, the only sure way of doing it is to prohibit growing those varieties and insuring that there is no market for the wine made from them.

Whether stamping out hybrid direct producers is a worthwhile goal in the first place is another matter.

-Paul W.