Not to be confused with gouache, an artistic medium, or enfariné noir, a grape which may be called "gouache".
"Gouais" redirects here. For the French wine grape that shares this and other synonyms with Gouais blanc, see Gueuche noir.
"Grobe" redirects here. For the German wine grape that is also known as Grobe and shares several other synonyms with Gouais blanc, see Elbling. For people with the surname, see Grobe (name).
Gouais blanc (French pronunciation:[ɡu.ɛblɑ̃]) or Weißer Heunisch (German pronunciation:[ˈvaɪsɐˈhɔʏnɪʃ]) is a white grape variety that is seldom grown today but is important as the ancestor of many traditional French and German grape varieties. The name Gouais derives from the old French adjective ‘gou’, a term of derision befitting its traditional status as the grape of the peasants.[1] Likewise, the German name Weißer Heunisch labels it as one of the lesser "Hunnic" grapes.
History
Gouais is known to have been widely planted in central and northeastern France in Medieval times. At that time, it was used to produce simple, acidic, white wines, and was primarily grown in unfavourable plots less well-suited for the more highly regarded Pinot noir or Pinot gris.[2] Gouais Blanc was thus the grape of the peasantry rather than of the nobility.
Its history before Medieval times is not known with any certainty, but is the subject of much conjecture, similar to many other grape varieties with a long history. Gouais blanc has been proposed as a candidate for the grape given to the Gauls by Marcus Aurelius Probus (Roman Emperor 276–282), who was from Pannonia and who overturned Domitian's decree banning grape growing north of the Alps.[3] Another hypothesis claims it originates specifically in Croatia (or Pannonia), but the Vitis International Variety Catalogue currently lists it as originating from Austria,[4] which should probably be interpreted as "likely to originate somewhere in Central Europe".
Gouais blanc was also grown in the Jura, but the phylloxera epidemic wiped out the variety in France, and it now survives only in the INRA collection at Domaine de Vassal, Montpellier.[3]
DNA fingerprinting at the University of California, Davis, in the late 1990s, identified Gouais blanc as the ancestor of a large number of classical European grape varieties.[2] That came as something of a surprise, given the old division into Frankish and Hunnic grape varieties used in the Germanic world, because it meant that the prototype simple "Hunnic" grape was in fact an ancestor to most of the noble "Frankish" grapes.
Crosses and relationships to other grapes
Having been widely grown in proximity to Pinot, the two varieties had many opportunities to cross. In fact, recent research has uncovered that Gouais blanc is closely related to Pinot noir, possibly one of Pinot's progeny, suggesting that many of the great grapes of Europe resulting from Pinot and Gouais blanc crosses are in fact highly inbred (https://journals.plos.org/plosgenetics/article?id=10.1371/journal.pgen.1007807#sec002). This unique combination of events means that many grape varieties today have Gouais blanc as a parent, the most famous of which is Chardonnay.
Despite Gouais blanc having the synonym Enfarine blanc, the Jura wine grape Enfariné noir (which is also known as Gouais noir) is not a color mutation of Gouais blanc.[6]
One of the synonyms of Gouais blanc is Gouget blanc and DNA analysis has suggested that the Allier wine grape Gouget noir may be related to Gouais blanc.[6]
Wine regions
As mentioned above, the Gouais blanc variety has, until recently, survived mostly as a museum curiosity. Since the Middle Ages there have been regular attempts to ban the peasants' grape from the soils of France, which probably says something about its typical winemaking qualities.[1] However, Gouais blanc has continued to be commercially grown at several vineyards in Switzerland and in recent years, a few historically interested wine producers have started to plant small amounts of Gouais blanc. The first North American commercial planting of Gouais was in 2019 at Pamar Vineyard in the Van Duzer Corridor AVA of Oregon's Willamette Valley. The wine is being made at Björnson Vineyard and will be released in 2023. Gouais has also been grown for over 100 years by Chambers Rosewood Winery in Rutherglen, Australia.[7]
^ abcdeMaul, Erika; Töpfer, Reinhard; Eibach, Rudolf (2007). "Vitis International Variety Catalogue". Institute for Grapevine Breeding Geilweilerhof (IRZ), Siebeldingen, Germany. Archived from the original on 2012-03-10. Retrieved 2007-08-29.
^Oz Clarke Encyclopedia of Grapes p. 112, Harcourt Books 2001 ISBN0-15-100714-4.
^ abJ. Robinson, J. Harding and J. Vouillamoz Wine Grapes - A complete guide to 1,368 vine varieties, including their origins and flavours pp. 330-331, 422 Allen Lane 2012 ISBN978-1-846-14446-2.