Red grape
Béquignol Noir
How to read this
Capitals mark the stressed syllable. “ny” is the ny in “canyon”. The French r comes from the back of the throat. The recording is the reference.
Béquignol Noir is a black grape known in the old Gironde as fer or béquignol; DNA markers show Savagnin as one parent, with the other unknown.
Armand d’Armailhacq, a Médoc proprietor, named the fer and the camerouge among the other red vines of the Médoc in the 1867 edition of his book on its vines and wines. Charles Cocks and Édouard Féret, whose Bordeaux et ses vins was the reference book of the Bordeaux trade, joined the names in 1874: fer at Macau and in the canton of Carbon-Blanc, béquignol in several communes of the right bank of the Garonne. By 1898 the guide counted more: camerouge in the palus of Macau, mauron at Pessac, chalosse-noire in the Bas-Médoc, négrotte in the canton of Pauillac, bouton-blanc in the canton of La Brède, chausset or petit-fer at Saint-Loubès.
The 1898 guide wrote that “this vine would yield a great deal if it ripened fully and were not subject to coulure” («Ce cépage produirait beaucoup s'il mûrissait complètement et s'il n'était pas sujet à la coulure»). Its wine cleared with difficulty, it resisted mildew, and the guide warned against confusing it with the Fer of the Dordogne. It then guessed at its family: “It is a variety or a hybrid of Cabernet franc” («C'est une variété ou un hybride du Cabernet franc.»). DNA markers later placed Béquignol Noir among the offspring of Savagnin, with the second parent unknown (Lacombe et al., 2013; VIVC 1147). It shares that parent with Sauvignon Blanc and the Teinturier. That the Gironde fer is this vine is likely.
Oldest record in my library: Armand d’Armailhacq, De la culture des vignes, de la vinification et des vins dans le Médoc, 1867 (as “fer”)
The family
Savagnin shown by DNA markers
Béquignol Noir
- Lacombe et al. 2013; VIVC 1147
The discovery: In 2013, Lacombe and colleagues, in Theoretical and Applied Genetics, placed Béquignol Noir among the offspring of Savagnin by DNA markers.
The names
As the Gironde books wrote it: Fer, Béquignol, Bequignol, Béquignaou, Camerouge, Mauron, Maouron, Negrotte, Bouton-Blanc, Chausset ou Petit-Fer, Petit-Fer, Prunelas ou Pruneley, Chalosse-Noire.
Other names in VIVC: Bequignaou, Bequignol, Bequin Rouge, Blanc Fer, Bouton Blanc, Breton, Cabernet, Camerouge, Chalosse Noire, Chausse, Chausset, Egrenant, Embalouzat, Enrageat Rouge.
Old names: Béquignol (open), Bouton-Blanc (open), Breton (open), Chalosse noire (open), Cruchinet (open), Fer (open), Folle noire (open), Here ou tête noire (open), Hourcat (open), Panereuil (open), Petit-Fer (open), Prunelas (open)
In today’s rules
Not named in the rules of any Bordeaux appellation today.
In the books
“The chief of these vines are: the penouille, the chalosse, the maussein, the pignon, the chauché, the teinturier, the fer, the camerouge, and the pigue.”
Les principaux de ces cépages sont : la penouille, la cha- losse, le maussein, le pignon, le chauché, le teinturier, le fer, le camerouge et la pigue.
“This vine is roughly like the fer; only its berries are more tightly packed.”
Ce cépage est à peu près analogue au fer ; seulement , ses grains sont plus ramassés .
“Fer (at Macau and in the canton of Carbon-Blanc). Béquignol (in several communes of the right bank of the Garonne).”
Fer (à Macau et dans le canton du Carbon-Blanc). Béquignol (dans plusieurs communes de la rive droite de la Garonne).
“It is a variety or a hybrid of Cabernet franc.”
C'est une variété ou un hybride du Cabernet franc.
Sources
- Armand d'Armailhacq, De la culture des vignes, de la vinification et des vins dans le Médoc, 1867, ch. 2
- Charles Cocks and Édouard Féret, Bordeaux et ses vins classés par ordre de mérite, 2nd ed., 1868, p. 23, Camerouge
- Charles Cocks and Édouard Féret, Bordeaux et ses vins classés par ordre de mérite, 3rd ed., 1874, p. 21
- Charles Cocks and Édouard Féret, Bordeaux et ses vins classés par ordre de mérite, 6th ed., 1893, p. 20
- Charles Cocks and Édouard Féret, Bordeaux et ses vins classés par ordre de mérite, 7th ed., 1898, ampélographie, Fer
- T. Lacombe, J.-M. Boursiquot, V. Laucou, M. Di Vecchi-Staraz, J.-P. Péros and P. This, Large-scale parentage analysis in an extended set of grapevine cultivars (Vitis vinifera L.), Theoretical and Applied Genetics 126 (2):401-414, 2013, doi:10.1007/s00122-012-1988-2
- Röckel et al. (2026): Vitis International Variety Catalogue, www.vivc.de, passport id 1147 (BEQUIGNOL NOIR) and its bibliography to pedigree confirmed by markers, accessed October 2026
- Röckel et al. (2026): Vitis International Variety Catalogue, www.vivc.de, Savagnin offspring as given in the hub packs for Sauvignon Blanc and Teinturier, accessed October 2026
- Röckel et al. (2026): Vitis International Variety Catalogue, www.vivc.de, accessed October 2026
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