Terret Blanc

Identity

Terret Blanc is the white mutation of Terret Noir, and the most used of the three Terrets.

As with the Grenaches, it is the same variety in the geneticist's sense: a cell lost the ability to make skin pigment, and the shoot that grew from it was propagated. The cahiers des charges, for their part, count it separately.

Its ampelographic record says so plainly: its "agronomic aptitudes are modelled on those of Terret Noir, its parent variety". It has not been studied in its own right.

In the vineyard

Bud burst mid-season, ripeness late. It buds a little earlier than its black parent, and that is the only phenological difference the source records.

No vigour filled in — the source gives none. Empty field, "not established".

What it brings

Its acidity is its trait, and its sole qualification. Pl@ntGrape describes it as giving a "neutral and relatively acidic register, with no strong varietal marker".

In a Languedoc or Provençal blend, that is precisely what is missing. Grenache Blanc, Clairette and Bourboulenc are all low in acid; Terret Blanc is one of the few southern whites that supplies some. It is the same function as Piquepoul Blanc, more quietly and without the name.

This entry's single descriptor, lemon, renders that acidity rather than a characterised aroma. The source says as much itself: no strong varietal marker.

A grape you do not taste

This is the kind of variety a taster will never pick out of a glass, because it is never there alone and brings nothing nameable. Its contribution is a sensation — a mouth that stays fresh — and not an aroma.

It is worth saying, because this encyclopedia's format invites you to look for descriptors everywhere. Some grapes have none, and their role lies elsewhere.

Where it is named

At Corbières and Minervois, an accessory variety in both.