White grape
Seyval Blanc
How to read this
Capitals mark the stressed syllable. “ahn” is a nasal vowel: say it through the nose, with no n. The recording is the reference.
Seyval Blanc is a French hybrid white, Seyve-Villard 5276; DNA markers show that with Zähringer it is a parent of Souvignier Gris, a resistant white now planted in the Gironde.
Seyval Blanc is a French hybrid white bred by Bertille Seyve-Villard, a private breeder, under the number Seyve-Villard 5276. The breeder’s record gives the parents as Seibel 5656 and Seibel 4986; DNA markers give Seibel 5656 and Rayon d’Or, and VIVC lists Seibel 4986 as a synonym of Rayon d’Or, so record and markers agree. VIVC lists resistance loci in it against downy and powdery mildew, among them Rpv3 and Ren3. In France it stayed small: François Delmotte and Olivier Jacquet (2025), a biologist and a historian, write that recommended hybrids such as Seyval did not spread, being “not very productive and sometimes rather susceptible to disease” (« peu productifs et parfois assez sensibles aux maladies »).
Seyval Blanc enters the Bordeaux family tree through Souvignier Gris. Norbert Becker crossed that grape at the Staatliches Weinbauinstitut Freiburg in 1983 and recorded its parents as Cabernet Sauvignon and Bronner; DNA markers from the Julius Kühn-Institut (Röckel, Maul, and Töpfer, cited by VIVC) later showed them to be Seyval Blanc and Zähringer. The arrêté of August 16, 2023 admitted Souvignier Gris among the white grapes of Bordeaux and Bordeaux Supérieur, and a 2023 presentation by the Gironde Chamber of Agriculture counted about 37 ha. No record places Seyval Blanc itself in the Gironde.
The family
Cross: Seyve-Villard, Bertille, Private breeder.
- Röckel, Maul & Töpfer, BÖLN project (in preparation), cited by VIVC 22629
The discovery: Between 2014 and 2016, markers from the Julius Kühn-Institut (Röckel, Maul, and Töpfer, cited by VIVC) gave Seyval Blanc and Zähringer as the parents of Souvignier Gris, not the recorded Cabernet Sauvignon and Bronner.
The names
Other names in VIVC: Seyve Villard 5276, Sv 5276, Seyve Villard 5-276, 5276 Seyve Villard.
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 11558 (Seyval Blanc), passport id 9945 (Rayon d'Or, synonym SEIBEL 4986) and passport id 22629 (Souvignier Gris), accessed October 2026
- François Delmotte & Olivier Jacquet, Histoire des maladies de la vigne et de leur impact sur la filière viticole, ses normes et ses pratiques: regards croisés d'un biologiste et d'un historien, 2025, https://hal.inrae.fr/hal-05304637v1
- Röckel, F., Maul, E. & Töpfer, R., BÖLN project (in preparation), as cited by VIVC passport 22629 (Souvignier Gris)
- INAO, 'Modification du cahier des charges de l'AOP Bordeaux supérieur adoptée par le Comité national en séance du 7 février 2023' (national opposition procedure draft), https://extranet.inao.gouv.fr/fichier/CDCBordeauxSuperieur-PNO2023.pdf, accessed October 2026
- Chambre d'agriculture de la Gironde, PNDV Tour 2023, 'Évolution et pilotage de l'encépagement' (Charlier, Vecchiato), slide 28, https://gironde.chambre-agriculture.fr/fileadmin/user_upload/Nouvelle-Aquitaine/100_Inst-Gironde/Documents/pdf_home_page_actualites/2023/PNDV_TOUR_2023_Evolution_et_pilotage_de_l_encepagement_CHARLIER_VECCHIATO.pdf, accessed October 2026
- Röckel et al. (2026): Vitis International Variety Catalogue, www.vivc.de, accessed October 2026
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