Camaralet de Lasseube

Identity

Camaralet de Lasseube is one of the few varieties in this corpus whose aromas Pl@ntGrape actually names. The source is almost always silent on that point: it describes a vigour, some susceptibilities, an alcohol level, and stops. Here it writes an aromatic typicity, and an unexpected one — cinnamon, pepper, fennel.

Three spice notes for a Pyrenean white. That is uncommon, and it is probably what got it saved.

A variety conserved, not grown

It survives in a very small way in the Jurançon vineyard, where a conservatory of a dozen clones has been planted. That is not the same as being grown: a conservatory is a decision not to let something disappear, taken before anyone knows what to do with it.

The Jurançon specification names it as an accessory variety — with Lauzet, it is one of two near-extinct varieties the appellation keeps alive through its text. An appellation that writes into its law a variety of which ten clones remain is making an act of conservation, not of economics.

In the vineyard

It buds late and ripens mid-season. Budding late, in foothills exposed to spring frost, is a virtue.

Its distinguishing feature is morphological and has a direct consequence: its bunches are very loose, and that is what makes it "not very susceptible to grey rot, except when over-ripe". Berries that do not touch do not infect one another. It is the same mechanism that protects Petit Manseng through its thick skin, reached by another route.

The caveat sits in the clause: except when over-ripe. Pushed too far, the advantage falls away.

In the glass

Medium to full body, high alcohol, and a good sugar potential.

The four descriptors on this entry rest on the typicity Pl@ntGrape states, which is rare in this corpus: cinnamon first, then the spice register that accompanies it. These are not tasting readings for want of anything better, but a restatement of the source's own judgement.

A spicy, alcoholic white with good sugar potential: on paper that is a candidate for sweet wine, which would explain its presence at Jurançon.

Where it is named

At Jurançon only, as an accessory variety.

What this entry does not say

Its parentage, undocumented. Its acidity, which Pl@ntGrape does not quantify — and that is a gap that matters for a white destined for a sweet-wine region, where acidity decides everything. And what a wine containing a real proportion of it actually tastes like, since practically none exists.