Red grape
Jurançon Noir
How to read this
Capitals mark the stressed syllable. “zh” is the s in “measure”. “ew” is “ee” said with rounded lips. “ahn” and “ohn” are nasal vowels: say them through the nose, with no n. The French r comes from the back of the throat. The recording is the reference.
Jurançon Noir is a black grape once grown in the Gironde as giranson, nochant, and arrivet; DNA markers show it is a cross of Folle Blanche and Cot, the Malbec.
The earliest record in my library is a list of minor vines. Charles Cocks and Édouard Féret, whose Bordeaux et ses vins was the reference book of the Bordeaux trade, named “Le Girançon ou Jurasson” in 1868 among vines found in the department in very small quantity. By 1893 they gave its Gironde names district by district: giranson and nochant in the canton of Carbon-Blanc, cahors in the Blayais, arrivet or arribet in the cantons of La Brède and Cadillac. In 1874 nochant shared a third of the vineyard with mancin at Château Parabelle, and the domaine du Tillac listed nochant and jurançon side by side.
The 1898 guide described a thin-trunked vine of little vigor whose wine “mixes well in small quantity with our best vines” («VIN se mélangeant bien en petite quantité avec nos meilleurs cépages»), yielding most when grafted and content in poor soils. It quoted the grower J. Daurel, who had planted the Dégoûtant of the Charente-Inférieure beside the Jurançon: “these two vines are the same” («ces deux cépages sont les mêmes»). DNA markers show that Jurançon Noir is a cross of Folle Blanche and Cot (ENTAV-ITV catalog, 2007; Lacombe et al., 2013; VIVC 5862). Both parents grew in the old Gironde: the Folle Blanche as the enrageat of its white wines, as André Jullien recorded in 1816, and the Cot as its malbec.
Oldest record in my library: Charles Cocks and Édouard Féret, Bordeaux et ses vins, 2nd edition, 1868 (as “Girançon ou Jurasson”)
The family
Folle Blanche shown by DNA markers
Malbec shown by DNA markers
Jurançon Noir
- ENTAV-ITV catalog 2007; Lacombe et al. 2013; VIVC 5862
The discovery: By 2007, the ENTAV-ITV catalog of French varieties gave Jurançon Noir as Folle Blanche x Cot by DNA markers; Lacombe et al. confirmed it in 2013.
The names
As the Gironde books wrote it: Jurançon, jurancon, Girançon, Jurasson, Giranson, Arrivet, Arribet, Nochant, Cahors, Va-de-Côté, Petit-Noir.
Other names in VIVC: Arrivet, Cahors, Cannut De Lauzun, Chalosse Noire, Dame Noire, Degoutant, Enrageade, Enrageat Noir, Enrageat Rouge, Folle Noire, Folle Rouge, Giranson, Grappu, Gros Grapput.
Old names: Cahors (open), Chalosse noire (open), Charge-fort (open), Folle noire (open), Grapput (open), Piquepout (open)
In today’s rules
Not named in the rules of any Bordeaux appellation today.
In the books
“planted 1/3 in malbec, 1/3 in merlot, 1/3 in mancin and nochant.”
complanté 1/3 en malbec, 1/3 en merlot, 1/3 en mancin et nochant.
“is planted in malbec, mancin, merlot, cabernet, nochant, and jurançon.”
est complanté en malbec, mancin, Qierlot, cabernet, nochant et jurançon
“Jurançon noir. Giranson, Nochant (canton of Carbon-Blanc). Cahors (in the Blayais). Arrivet, Arribet (cantons of La Brède and Cadillac).”
Jurançon noir . - Giranson , Nochant ( canton du Carbon - Blanc ) . Cahors ( dans le Blayais ) . Arrivet , Arribet ( canton de La Brède et de Cadillac ) .
“This vine yields abundantly, above all when grafted. It thrives in poor soils.”
Ce cépage produit abondamment, surtout quand il est greffé. Il se plaît dans les sols maigres.
Sources
- Charles Cocks and Édouard Féret, Bordeaux et ses vins classés par ordre de mérite, 2nd ed., 1868, p. 23
- Charles Cocks and Édouard Féret, Bordeaux et ses vins classés par ordre de mérite, 3rd ed., 1874, p. 22 and Château-Parabelle
- Édouard Féret, Statistique générale ... du département de la Gironde, 1874, domaine du Tillac
- Charles Cocks and Édouard Féret, Bordeaux et ses vins classés par ordre de mérite, 6th ed., 1893, pp. 16 to 17
- Charles Cocks and Édouard Féret, Bordeaux et ses vins classés par ordre de mérite, 7th ed., 1898, ampélographie, Jurançon noir
- André Jullien, Topographie de tous les vignobles connus, 1st ed., 1816, Gironde: 'La folle blanche ou enrageât'
- Catalogue des variétés et clones de vigne cultivés en France, 2nd ed., ENTAV-ITV, 2007 (as cited by VIVC)
- T. Lacombe 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
- Röckel et al. (2026): Vitis International Variety Catalogue, www.vivc.de, passport id 5862 (JURANCON NOIR) and its bibliography to pedigree confirmed by markers, accessed October 2026
- Röckel et al. (2026): Vitis International Variety Catalogue, www.vivc.de, accessed October 2026
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