Barbaroux

Identity

Barbaroux is a variety one appellation is retiring while another puts it in the front rank.

Côtes de Provence now permits it only on plots planted before 31 July 1994: a sunset clause, no new planting. At the same time Ajaccio names it a principal variety, under its Corsican name Barbarossa.

Two texts, two opposite judgements on the same fruit. It is the clearest illustration in this corpus of what a rank in a blend actually is: a regional decision, not a property of the plant.

Two varieties retired on one date

The 1994 clause is not isolated. Côtes de Provence applies it to two varieties: Barbaroux and Calitor.

So it is not a one-off arbitration but an appellation decision — two old varieties set aside together, on the same date, at the moment Provence was reorienting its rosés.

In the vineyard

It buds early and ripens mid-season. Its skin is pink — neither white nor black — which places it in the delicate grey category, with the colouring risks this corpus describes for Clairette Rose.

Pl@ntGrape calls it very fertile, and adds the recommendation that follows: "to be reserved for low-fertility sites and warm climates". An over-generous variety that must be restrained by the soil, failing which it dilutes.

That is probably where its Provençal retirement comes from. An appellation seeking concentration has no use for a grape that must be constrained to stop it producing too much.

In the glass

Low acidity, no tannin. The profile of a grey grape destined for rosé and light red — which is precisely what it is, at Cassis as at Côtes de Provence.

This entry's single descriptor is a reading of that register, not a quotation.

Where it is named

At Ajaccio, a principal variety, under the name Barbarossa.

At Cassis, an accessory variety for rosés and reds.

At Côtes de Provence, an accessory too, but under the 1994 reservation.

Three appellations, three descending statuses, one variety.

What it gets confused with

Its Corsican name, Barbarossa, which is not another grape's but its own. The naming gap between mainland and island holds for several Corsican varieties in this corpus, and it complicates reading blends every time.