Folle Blanche

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Folle Blanche was the traditional grape variety of the Cognac and Armagnac regions of France. It is also known as Picpoule (with various variations of spelling (Piquepoul, Picpoul), although it is in fact unrelated to the Picpoul of the Languedoc) as well as Gros Plant and Enrageat blanc.

It has been mostly replaced by its hybrid offspring Baco blanc due to phylloxera damage. Baco blanc (also known as Baco 22 A) is a cross of Folle Blanche and the Labrusca riparia X Vitis labrusca hybrid Noah. Folle Blanche is also the parent of the very hardy and disease-resistant Baco 1 (or Baco noir), a cross of Folle Blanche and a Vitis riparia variety. Baco noir and Baco 22 A, like Folle Blanche and their other parents, produce a very acid wine. This makes them more suited to distillation than less acidic grapes.

Folle Blanche is used for table wine in the Loire Valley in the area around Nantes, where it produces a very dry and often tartly acidic wine that pairs well with shellfish. Approximately 3,000 Ha are planted with the variety in the Loire Valley. ^[1] There it is used both in the production of table wine as well as eau de vie.