Vignoles - a great summer wine!

Vignoles, pronounced “veen-yoles”, is a grape that was produced by J.F. Ravat from France in the 1930's.   It is a white variety that is a cross between the Seibel grape and a Pinot Noir clone, probably neither being known to anyone here, including myself. Even though it was produced in France most of its popularity has been in the US. You can find this grape produced a lot in the northeast, especially the Finger Lakes region of upstate NY and parts of NH, as well as the mid-west including IL, MO and others.

This is a varietal that is more on the semi-sweet side, but with the right acidity and balance it can be a delicious wine to drink, especially in the summer months. On my recent trip to the Finger Lakes I even bought some Vignoles dessert style wines that I'm looking forward to opening at some point this summer. Since this grape has thicker skins it is able to hang on the vine a lot longer to produce a more concentrated, late harvest wine at times. With this grape you will typically get a lot of tropical fruit, melon, peach, apricots, honey as well as citrus on the palate.

If you get a chance to try this fun and yummy varietal I suggest you do!