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Gouais Blanc

Gouais blanc is a white grape variety that is seldom grown today but is important as the ancestor of many traditional French and German grape varieties.

Gouais is known to have been widely planted in central and northeastern France in medieval times. At that time, it was used to produce simple, acidic, white wines, and was primarily grown in unfavourable plots less well-suited for the more highly regarded Pinot noir or Pinot gris. Gouais Blanc was thus the grape of the peasantry rather than of the nobility.

Its history before medieval times is not known with any certainty, but is the subject of much conjecture, similar to many other grape varieties with a long history. Gouais blanc has been proposed as a candidate for the grape given to the Gauls by Marcus Aurelius Probus (Roman Emperor 276–282), who was from Pannonia and who overturned Domitian's decree banning grape growing north of the Alps. Another hypothesis claims it originates specifically in Croatia (or Pannonia), but the Vitis International Variety Catalogue currently lists it as originating from Austria, which should probably be interpreted as "likely to originate somewhere in Central Europe".

Having been widely grown in proximity to Pinot, the two varieties had many opportunities to cross. In fact, recent research has uncovered that Gouais blanc is closely related to Pinot noir, possibly one of Pinot's progeny, suggesting that many of the great grapes of Europe resulting from Pinot and Gouais blanc crosses are in fact highly inbred. This unique combination of events means that many grape varieties today have Gouais blanc as a parent, the most famous of which is Chardonnay.

DNA fingerprinting research at the University of California, Davis has also identified Gouais blanc as an ancestor of the Aligoté, Aubin vert, Auxerrois, Bachet noir, Beaunoir, Blaufränkisch, Franc Noir de la-Haute-Saône, Gamay Blanc Gloriod, Gamay noir, Melon, Knipperlé, Peurion, Roublot, and Sacy grape varieties. Dameron is another result of the same cross, whereas a cross with Pinot fin teinturier produced Romorantin.

It produced Räuschling, Petit Meslier and Aubin when pollinated by Traminer/Savagnin, and Riesling and Elbling when pollinated by a cross of a wild grape with Traminer.

When pollinated by Chenin blanc it produced Colombard, Balzac blanc and Meslier Saint François, and with Bastardo (Tressot) it produced Genouillet.

Despite Gouais blanc having the synonym Enfarine blanc, the Jura wine grape Enfariné noir (which is also known as Gouais noir) is not a color mutation of Gouais blanc.

One of the synonyms of Gouais blanc is Gouget blanc and DNA analysis has suggested that the Allier wine grape Gouget noir may be related to Gouais blanc.

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