Clairette

Identity

Clairette is one of the few French varieties to have given its name to whole appellations — Clairette de Die, Clairette du Languedoc, Clairette de Bellegarde — and one of the least mentioned when people talk about the whites of the Midi.

In this corpus it appears first for something else: it is a principal variety for the whites of four Provençal appellations, Bandol, Cassis, Palette and Côtes de Provence. That is a rank few southern whites reach, and it deserves noting, because Clairette is often taken for a makeweight.

In the vineyard

It buds seven days after Chasselas, so mid-season, and ripens late, four weeks after it. Pl@ntGrape calls it "a vigorous variety, which must be spur-pruned" — the vigour and the short pruning go together, the second being the answer to the first.

That late ripeness, in the Midi, is a resource rather than a handicap: it gives the fruit time to ripen without the harvest falling in the hottest part of summer.

What defines it, and its problem

Pl@ntGrape says this: "fairly alcoholic wines… relatively low in acidity".

The two traits are linked and they describe a difficulty. A southern white that climbs in alcohol and lacks acidity turns flat and heavy easily. Which is why blending matters so much in these appellations: at Bandol, Clairette works alongside Bourboulenc and Ugni Blanc, the latter being precisely the one that supplies the acidity it lacks.

And above all, it is prone to oxidation in the cellar. That is the most constraining line on the record: it concerns not the vineyard but the winery, and it demands protective handling — full vats, judged sulphur, as little movement as possible. A badly handled Clairette does not age poorly, it ages fast.

The two descriptors on this entry — orange blossom and green apple — are tasting readings, not quotations: no source opened for this entry gives an aroma profile.

Two colours under one name

Châteauneuf-du-Pape's cahier des charges names "clairette B" and "clairette rose Rs" separately. This corpus groups them under a single entry, for want of a clear signal as to whether these are two varieties or one with two berry colours.

It is the same editorial choice made for Mauzac and Mauzac Rose, and it is explicit: to revisit if a distinct ampelographic record is ever consulted.

What this entry does not say

The three appellations that carry its name. Clairette de Die, Clairette du Languedoc and Clairette de Bellegarde have no node in this corpus, and their specifications were not opened for this entry. That is the most visible gap: a reader looking up "Clairette" is probably looking for a Die first.