Concept card Guide
Varieties of interest for adaptation purposes
In one sentence
Varieties an appellation's specification admits on top of its grapes, subject to a signed agreement, as a way to adapt.
The ranks in a specification
Core of the plantings
Principal grapes
The ones that make most of the wine.
Complementary grapes
A rank that only some appellations provide for.
Accessory grapes
Open to any producer, within a capped share.
Varieties of interest
Only for those who have signed an agreement, with limits of their own.
Under agreement
Key points
- The text does not class them as grapes (cépages): they are "varieties of interest for adaptation", listed separately.
- The agreement binds INAO, the appellation's management body and the operators concerned, as each text specifies.
- Each text sets its own limits: in Champagne, Voltis at most 5% of the vines and 10% of the blend.
- The lists mix recent breeds, such as Voltis, with long-established grapes known elsewhere, such as Syrah.
- Oenopia never counts them in an appellation's list of grapes.
What it changes in the glass
- In Champagne, a wine may include up to 10% Voltis in its blend, never Voltis alone.
- An appellation's list of grapes therefore does not tell you everything that may go into the bottle.
Not to be confused with…
An accessory grape
Any producer in the appellation may use it, within its limit; a variety of interest also requires a signed agreement.
A disease-resistant variety
Some are, like Voltis, bred to resist downy and powdery mildew; others are classic grapes, like Syrah.
A Champagne grower plants Voltis on 3% of their vines for their blend, without signing anything. Under the specification, what is missing?
One question to test yourself: it does not count towards your progress.
The clause as it is written
The specifications cited here add, after the grapes, a line of "varieties of interest for adaptation", with a proviso: the signing of an agreement in line with a framework agreement approved by the competent national committee.
- The word "variety" keeps them apart from principal, complementary and accessory grapes.
- Their use is not open to everyone: it takes a signed agreement.
- Each text sets its own limits: at most 5% of the vines in Champagne, 5% of the plantings in Bordeaux.
What the texts name
- Champagne: Voltis.
- Alsace: Voltis, Opalor, Selenor, Souvignier Gris, Johanniter, Chenin and Vermentino for whites; Coliris, Nebbiolo and Syrah for rosés and reds.
- Gaillac: Alvarinho, Felen, Furmint and Verdanel for whites; Jurançon Noir for reds and rosés.
- Bordeaux, reds and rosés: Arinarnoa, Castets, Marselan, Touriga Nacional, Vidoc; whites and rosés: Alvarinho, Floréal, Liliorila, Sauvignac, Souvignier Gris.
- Meursault: Aligoté, Melon and Sacy for whites; César for reds.
Two bets under one name
On one side, recent breeds. Voltis, bred by INRAE and entered in the official catalogue in January 2018, owes its resistance to downy and powdery mildew to American vines. On the other, long-established grapes known elsewhere: Syrah and Chenin in Alsace, Furmint in Gaillac.
- Voltis remains susceptible to black rot, the same record notes: a resistance holds against a given disease.
- The texts themselves do not say "resistant": that property is read variety by variety, in the breeders' own records.
- Since 2021, EU law has admitted into PDOs varieties bred from crossings of Vitis vinifera with other Vitis species.
Why Oenopia lists them apart
A list of grapes says what makes an appellation's wine. A variety admitted under an agreement, in a limited share, does not answer that question: Oenopia keeps it out of that list, and names it separately where the page allows, as for Champagne.
Related reading
Sources (7)
- Official sourceArrêté du 4 juin 2026 homologuant le cahier des charges de l'AOC « Meursault »— Ministère de l'agriculture et de la souveraineté alimentaire — Bulletin officiel (BO-AGRI)
- Official sourceCahier des charges de l'appellation d'origine contrôlée « Champagne »— Institut national de l'origine et de la qualité (INAO)
- Official sourceCahier des charges de l'appellation d'origine contrôlée « Alsace » ou « Vin d'Alsace »— Institut national de l'origine et de la qualité (INAO)
- Official sourceCahier des charges de l'appellation d'origine contrôlée « Bordeaux »— Institut national de l'origine et de la qualité (INAO) / Ministère de l'agriculture
- Official sourceCahier des charges de l'appellation d'origine protégée « Gaillac »— Institut national de l'origine et de la qualité (INAO) / Ministère de l'agriculture
- Official sourceRèglement (UE) 2021/2117 modifiant notamment le règlement (UE) n° 1308/2013— Union européenne — EUR-Lex (Office des publications)
- Official sourceFiches variétales : Artaban, Floreal, Vidoc, Voltis (variétés INRA-ResDur1)— INRAE, centre Grand-Est Colmar, UMR Santé de la vigne et qualité du vin