Terret (grape)

For other uses, see Terret (disambiguation).
Drawing of Terret noir from an early 20th-century ampelography text.

Terret is an ancient Vitis vinifera vine that, like the parent Pinot vine of Pinot noir's history, mutated over the course of thousands of years into grape varieties of several color. Originating in the Languedoc-Roussillon wine of southern France, the descendants of Terret now include the red wine variety Terret noir, the white Terret blanc and the light-skinned Terret gris.[1]

For years, the light skin varieties of the Terrets were grown together as field blends and used in Vermouth production. The dark-skinned Terret noir was more highly valued as a permitted variety in the notable Rhône wine of Châteauneuf-du-Pape as well as in the Appellation d'origine contrôlée (AOC)s of Corbières AOC and Minervois AOC in the Languedoc.[2]

  1. ^ J. Robinson Jancis Robinson's Guide to Wine Grapes pg 184-185 Oxford University Press 1996 ISBN 0198600984
  2. ^ Oz Clarke Encyclopedia of Grapes pg 266 Harcourt Books 2001 ISBN 0-15-100714-4