Red grape

Gros Cabernet

groh kah-bair-NEH
How to read this

Capitals mark the stressed syllable. The French r comes from the back of the throat. The recording is the reference.

Gros Cabernet is a black grape identified by DNA, a child of Hondarribi Beltza and a parent of Castets; its name is also an old Médoc name for a vine that was most likely Cabernet Franc.

Gros Cabernet is a black grape known today through DNA. VIVC gives France as its country of origin and, by DNA markers, Hondarribi Beltza, a black grape it gives as Spanish, as one parent; it leaves the other unknown. Jean-Michel Boursiquot and colleagues proposed Fer as that second parent in 2009, and the pedigree diagram in Wine Grapes (Robinson, Harding, and Vouillamoz, 2012) draws it, but a 2018 SNP study by Valérie Laucou and colleagues found that parentage poorly supported. DNA markers show that Castets, one of Bordeaux’s trial grapes, is a cross of Gros Cabernet and Camaraou Noir. The same 2009 study proposed Gros Cabernet as the second parent of Carmenère, beside Cabernet Franc; a 2013 study led by Thierry Lacombe proposed Moural instead, and VIVC keeps both.

The name is older than that DNA profile, and the two may not refer to the same vine. Armand d’Armailhacq, a Médoc proprietor, in his 1855 book on the vines and wines of the Médoc, named the gros cabernet or carmenet first among the 6 most widespread vines of the Médoc, said it was called grosse vidure around Bordeaux and, after the comte Odart, breton in the Vienne and Indre-et-Loire, and counted 5 varieties of it, the second being “the cabernet franc or gris” (“le cabernet franc ou gris”). VIVC files Gros Cabernet, Grosse Vidure, Breton, Véronais, and Arrouya among the synonyms of Cabernet Franc. So the “gros cabernet” of the old books most likely meant Cabernet Franc, while VIVC keeps Gros Cabernet as a variety of its own; the identity stays open.

The name stayed in the trade books. In 1868 Charles Cocks and Édouard Féret, whose Bordeaux et ses vins was the reference book of the Bordeaux trade, gave the Grosse-Vidure of the Graves as the Gros Cabernet. In 1922 their guide recorded Château Clinet, in Pomerol, planted half in cabernet-sauvignon and half in gros cabernet, merlot, and malbec. Which vine these pages meant is the same open question.

Oldest record in my library: Armand d’Armailhacq, La culture des vignes, la vinification et les vins dans le Médoc, 1855, for the name (he reports Secondat’s older “grosse vigne dure des Graves”)

The family

Hondarribi Beltza shown by DNA markers

Fer proposed

Gros Cabernet

Carmenère proposed

Castets shown by DNA markers

  • Boursiquot et al. 2009 (as 'Txakoli'); Lacombe et al. 2013; VIVC 22758 (as Ondarrabi Beltza)
  • Boursiquot et al. 2009, AJGWR 15:144-155, Table 2 (proposed); Robinson, Harding & Vouillamoz, Wine Grapes (2012), pedigree diagram; found poorly supported with SNPs by Laucou et al. 2018, PLoS ONE 13:e0192540; VIVC 22758 gives the second parent as unknown
  • Boursiquot et al. 2009, AJGWR 15:144-155 (VIVC hypothesis 1 of 2); Robinson, Harding & Vouillamoz, Wine Grapes (2012), pedigree diagram
  • Lacombe et al. 2013; D'Onofrio et al. 2021; VIVC 2325

The discovery: In 2009, Jean-Michel Boursiquot and colleagues gave Hondarribi Beltza (under the name Txakoli) as a parent of Gros Cabernet and proposed Gros Cabernet as a parent of Carmenère.

The names

Old names: Gros cabernet (open)

In today’s rules

Not named in the rules of any Bordeaux appellation today.

In the books

“Five varieties of gros cabernet are known, which makes it very hard to grow, because it takes long experience to tell them apart. [...] First, the cabernet blanc; second, the cabernet franc or gris; third, the cabernet tardif; fourth, the cabernet rouge; fifth, the cabernet Saint-Jean.”

On connaît cinq variétés de gros cabernet, ce qui rend sa culture fort difficile, parce qu'il faut être très-expérimenté pour les distinguer. [...] 1. Le cabernet blanc, 2. Le cabernet franc ou gris, 3 Le cabernet tardif, 4. Le cabernet rouge, 5. Le cabernet Saint-Jean.

La culture des vignes, la vinification et les vins dans le Médoc (1855), 1855, p. chap. 2, 'Variétés du gros Cabernet'

“The most widespread red vines in the Graves are, in order of merit: the Vidure-Sauvignonne (Cabernet-Sauvignon), the Petite-Vidure (Petit Cabernet), the Grosse-Vidure (Gros Cabernet)”

Les cépages de vigne rouge les plus répandus dans les graves sont , par ordre de mérite : la Vidure - Sauvignonne ( Cabernet - Sauvignon ) , la Petite - Vidure ( Petit Cabernet ) , la Grosse - Vidure ( Gros Cabernet )

Bordeaux et ses vins classés par ordre de mérite (2e éd.) (1868), 1868

“This estate is planted half in cabernet-sauvignon (bouschet-sauvignon), and the other half in gros cabernet, merlot, and malbec (noir Pressac).”

Ce domaine est planté en cabernet - sauvignon ( bouschet - sauvignon ) pour moitié , en gros cabernet , merlot et malbec ( noir Pressac ) , pour l'autre moitié .

Clinet, Bordeaux et ses vins classés par ordre de mérite (9e éd.) (1922), 1922, p. 608

Sources

  • Röckel et al. (2026): Vitis International Variety Catalogue, www.vivc.de, passport id 22758 (pedigree confirmed by markers 'TXAKOLI X ?', prime name of parent 1 ONDARRABI BELTZA, parent 2 '?', 0 synonyms, read October 12, 2026), accessed October 2026
  • Röckel et al. (2026): Vitis International Variety Catalogue, www.vivc.de, passport id 22758, 'Bibliography to pedigree confirmed by markers' (Boursiquot et al. 2009; Lacombe et al. 2013; Laucou et al. 2018; D'Onofrio et al. 2021), accessed October 2026
  • Röckel et al. (2026): Vitis International Variety Catalogue, www.vivc.de, passport id 1927 (Cabernet Franc: 106 synonyms, including GROS CABERNET, CROS CABERNET, GROSSE VIDURE, BRETON, VERONAIS, ARROUYA, CARMENET, BOUCHET, CARMENERE; read October 12, 2026), accessed October 2026
  • Röckel et al. (2026): Vitis International Variety Catalogue, www.vivc.de, passport id 2325 (Castets: GROS CABERNET X CAMARAOU NOIR, confirmed by markers), accessed October 2026
  • Röckel et al. (2026): Vitis International Variety Catalogue, www.vivc.de, passport id 2109 (Carmenère: 2 parentage hypotheses), accessed October 2026
  • J.-M. Boursiquot, T. Lacombe, V. Laucou et al., 'Parentage of Merlot and related winegrape cultivars of southwestern France: discovery of the missing link', Australian Journal of Grape and Wine Research 15 (2):144-155, 2009, doi 10.1111/j.1755-0238.2008.00041.x (as cited by VIVC)
  • T. Lacombe, J.-M. Boursiquot, V. Laucou et al., '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 (as cited by VIVC)
  • Jancis Robinson, Julia Harding & José Vouillamoz, Wine Grapes, 2012, pedigree diagrams (Hondarribi Beltza x Fer -> Gros Cabernet; Cabernet Franc x Gros Cabernet -> Carmenère)
  • Armand d'Armailhacq, La culture des vignes, la vinification et les vins dans le Médoc, 1855, chap. 2, 'Du Cabernet (gros) ou Carmenet' and 'Variétés du gros Cabernet'
  • Charles Cocks & Édouard Féret, Bordeaux et ses vins classés par ordre de mérite, 2nd ed., 1868
  • Charles Cocks & Édouard Féret, Bordeaux et ses vins classés par ordre de mérite, 9th ed., 1922, p. 608, Clinet
  • Bordeaux Reviews, Old names
  • Jean-Michel Boursiquot et al., 'Parentage of Merlot and related winegrape cultivars of southwestern France: discovery of the missing link', Australian Journal of Grape and Wine Research 15:144-155, 2009, Table 2
  • Valérie Laucou et al., 'Extended diversity analysis of cultivated grapevine Vitis vinifera with 10K genome-wide SNPs', PLoS ONE 13:e0192540, 2018, p. 4 (Gros Cabernet's putative parentage 'poorly supported' with SNPs)
  • Röckel et al. (2026): Vitis International Variety Catalogue, www.vivc.de, accessed October 2026

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