Souvignier gris

Souvignier gris is a white German wine grape variety that was created in 1983 Dr. Norbert Becker by crossing the red French wine grape variety Cabernet Sauvignon with the white German grape crossing previously created by Becker known as Bronner. As both parent grape varieties are members of the Vitis vinifera species, these makes Souvignier gris a crossing instead of a hybrid grape variety.^[1]

History and lineage

Bronner, one of the parent varieties of Souvignier gris.

Like its parent variety, Bronner, Souvignier gris was developed at the viticultural research institute of Freiburg, Germany. The variety was created in 1983.^[1]

Through its parent, Cabernet Sauvignon, Souvignier gris is a grandchild variety of the white grape variety, Sauvignon blanc, and the red grape variety Cabernet Franc.^[2] Through Bronner, which was created by Becker in 1975, the grape is related to Merzling a second Vitis vinifera vine known as Geisenheim 6494.^[3] Geisenheim 6494 itself was a crossing of two Czech wine grape varieties, Zarya Severa and St. Laurent.^[4]

Synonyms

As a relatively recently created grape crossing, Souvignier gris is not known under many other names with only the breeding codes FR 392-83 and Freiburg 392-83 being listed as officially recognized synonyms by the Vitis International Variety Catalogue (VIVC).^[1]

References