Blanc du Bois (French, white [grape] of the woods [forest]) is an American hybrid grape that was created in 1968 by John A. Mortensen at the University of Florida’s Central Florida Research and Education Center in Leesburg, Florida. Mortensen created this variety by crossing various Vitis vinifera grape varieties such as Golden Muscat with native Florida varieties. When released in 1987, Blanc du Bois became another grape variety in the small but growing number of vine types that can both produce marketable wine on their own yet can withstand Pierce's Disease, a bacterial infection that destroys nearly all vinifera vinestocks imported into the southern United States.[1]
Despite the name, the grape variety has nothing to do with woods or forests; rather it was named in honor of Emile DuBois, an influential grapegrower and winemaker in the Tallahassee, Fla., area.[1]