The French appellation system is among the strictest in the world, with regulation after regulation detailing which grapes can be grown where and used in wine production. Hybrids rarely qualify. But, here’s a little secret: Many table wines from France’s Loire include a mixed-up mutt called Chambourcin.
“This is not reported often in the wine press, or to the French government, but Chambourcin is often blended with Cabernet Franc in the Loire Valley,” says J. Stephen Casscles, who owns Cedar Cliff Vineyards and Nursery in Athens, N.Y., and wrote Grapes of the Hudson Valley and Other Cool Climate Regions of the United States and Canada. “What is labeled as an Anjou Rosé is often Chambourcin, but due to French regulations, it is passed off as being a Cabernet Franc Rosé. And, if I were a grower in France, I would do the same thing.”
Of all the hybrids and crosses between vinifera and other grape varieties, Chambourcin may be the grape that comes closest to Vitis vinifera for winemaking and to hybrids for disease resistance. Casscles says it most resembles Cabernet Franc and can be used to make similar, medium-bodied red wines. Though it isn’t as tannic as Cabernet Franc (and, in fact, lightens Cabernet Franc when the two are blended), it has some of the same spice and herbal character, as well as dark red fruit character.
“And Chambourcin is much more forgiving in the field,” Casscles says, noting that it needs as little as half as much
This Article was originally published on Wine Enthusiast
