White grape
Chenin Blanc
How to read this
Capitals mark the stressed syllable. “ahn” and “an” are nasal vowels: say them through the nose, with no n. The recording is the reference.
Chenin Blanc is the Loire white, a child of Savagnin by DNA markers; with Gouais Blanc it is a parent of Colombard, an accessory white grape of AOC Bordeaux.
Chenin Blanc is the Loire white that VIVC also lists as Pineau de la Loire and Plant d’Anjou, and the Cabernet Sauvignon pedigree in Wine Grapes (2012) places its origin in the Loire. DNA markers show that one of its parents is Savagnin (Lacombe and colleagues, 2013, and later studies cited by VIVC); the other is unknown. Wine Grapes draws Chenin Blanc and Sauvignon Blanc as siblings, children of Savagnin on a single line. In 2000 Bowers and colleagues counted Chenin, with Savagnin, among the “very old cultivars”.
Its Bordeaux tie runs through Colombard. DNA markers show that Colombard is a cross of Gouais Blanc and Chenin Blanc: Bowers and colleagues proposed it in 2000, Lacombe and colleagues found it again in 2013, and VIVC lists it as confirmed. Colombard is an accessory white grape of AOC Bordeaux. Chenin Blanc itself is on neither the AOC Bordeaux white list of 2021 nor the 2023 draft for Côtes de Bourg. It still grows in the Gironde: in 2012 it stood in an INRA trial plot of 52 grapes in the Bordelais (Louise Durand, 2012), and today Château de la Grave, at Bourg, gives Sémillon, Colombard, and Chenin for its white wine.
Oldest record in my library: “le chenin”, 1816, in André Jullien, Topographie de tous les vignobles connus (Chinon); near Bordeaux, Louise Durand, INRA trial plot in the Bordelais, 2012
The family
- Lacombe et al. 2013; VIVC 2527
- Bowers et al. 2000, Acta Hort. 528:129-132; Lacombe et al. 2013; VIVC 2771 (VIVC notes several hypotheses)
The discovery: In 2013, Lacombe and colleagues (Theoretical and Applied Genetics 126), the earliest source VIVC cites, placed Chenin Blanc among the offspring of Savagnin.
The names
Other names in VIVC: Blanc D'Anjou, Blanc D'Aunis, Blanc Emery, Bon Blanc, Capbreton Blanc, Cruchinet, Cugnette, Franc Blanc, Gros Pineau De Vouvray, Mancais Blanc, Pineau Blanc, Pineau D'Anjou, Pineau De La Loire, Plant D'Anjou.
Old names: Cruchinet (open)
In today’s rules
Not named in the rules of any Bordeaux appellation today.
Sources
- Röckel et al. (2026): Vitis International Variety Catalogue, www.vivc.de, passport id 2527 and its 'Bibliography to pedigree confirmed by markers'; passport id 2771 (Colombard), accessed October 2026
- Lacombe, T. et al. (2013), 'Large-scale parentage analysis in an extended set of grapevine cultivars (Vitis vinifera L.)', Theoretical and Applied Genetics 126 (2):401-414
- D'Onofrio, C. et al. (2021), 'Parentage Atlas of Italian Grapevine Varieties as Inferred From SNP Genotyping', Frontiers in Plant Science 12:605934
- Laucou, V. et al. (2018), 'Extended diversity analysis of cultivated grapevine Vitis vinifera with 10K genome-wide SNPs', PLoS ONE 13 (2):e0192540
- Bowers, J. E., Siret, R., Meredith, C. P., This, P. & Boursiquot, J.-M. (2000), 'A single pair of parents proposed for a group of grapevine varieties in northeastern France', Acta Horticulturae 528:129-132
- Robinson, Harding & Vouillamoz, Wine Grapes (2012), pedigree diagram
- INAO, cahier des charges AOC Bordeaux (opposition draft after the CNAOV opinion of November 18, 2020; homologated March 22, 2021), ch. I, V.1 a, https://winewitandwisdomswe.com/wp-content/uploads/2021/01/Cahier-des-Charges-AOC-Bordeaux-updated-November-2020.pdf, accessed October 2026
- INAO, modification du cahier des charges AOC Côtes de Bourg adoptée par le Comité national le 7 février 2023 (national opposition procedure draft), ch. I, V.1 b, https://extranet.inao.gouv.fr/fichier/CDCBourg-PNO2023.pdf, accessed October 2026
- Louise Durand, Mise en place d'un protocole de traitement de données pour l'étude de l'adaptation d'une large gamme de cépages aux évolutions climatiques en Bordelais (master's thesis, 2012), Figure 8 and annex, https://dumas.ccsd.cnrs.fr/dumas-00772947v1
- Bordeaux Reviews, château profiles
- André Jullien, Topographie de tous les vignobles connus, 1st ed., 1816, Indre-et-Loire
- Röckel et al. (2026): Vitis International Variety Catalogue, www.vivc.de, accessed October 2026
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