Courbu

Identity

Courbu is a white of the Pyrenean vineyards, and the first thing to say about it is that it should not be confused with Petit Courbu. They are two distinct varieties, close in name only — the same trap of homonymy as the two Mansengs, with this difference, that both Mansengs are at least documented by the VIVC.

This corpus treats them separately, with an entry each.

In the vineyard

Bud burst and ripeness mid-season, with nothing unusual about either. Pl@ntGrape recommends long pruning.

Its health profile is unusually calm: "apart from grey rot, this variety does not appear to show any particular susceptibility". For a Pyrenean white, where Atlantic humidity is the dominant constraint, that is a quality worth more than it looks.

Its vigour is not filled in, and that is deliberate: the source record uses no word for vigour about it. An empty field here means "not established", never "medium".

What defines it

Pl@ntGrape gives two characters, and they go together: musts high in sugar, moderately acidic, "suited to dry wines as well as to sweet".

That versatility is what earns it its place in Jurançon, an appellation that covers precisely both registers. But it comes with a limit: only moderate acidity, where Petit Manseng and Gros Manseng keep an extreme one. In a sweet wine it is the acidity that stops the sugar from weighing — and that is why Courbu stays an accessory where the Mansengs are principal.

The two descriptors on this entry — honey and quince — are readings of the sweet-wine register the source describes, not quotations. None gives a measured aroma profile.

Where it is named

At Jurançon, an accessory variety behind Petit Manseng and Gros Manseng.

It is the only published appellation in this corpus to cite it. It is reputed to grow elsewhere in the Pyrenean foothills — in Béarn, at Pacherenc du Vic-Bilh, at Irouléguy — but none of those appellations has a node here and none of their specifications was opened for this entry.

What this entry does not say

Its parentage, which is not documented in the sources consulted. And the exact nature of its relationship to Petit Courbu: two distinct varieties, yes, but nothing in what has been read establishes that they are related, or that they are not. A closeness of name settles nothing, and this entry declines to guess.