Gouais Blanc
A near-extinct medieval workhorse white — yet, through crosses with Pinot, the genetic mother of Chardonnay, Gamay, Aligoté, Melon and dozens more. One of wine's most important ancestral varieties.
About Gouais
Gouais Blanc is arguably the most historically important grape almost no one drinks. Once planted everywhere across medieval northeastern France and Central Europe, it was so vigorous, productive and undistinguished that authorities repeatedly tried to ban it, and it has now all but vanished from vineyards. Its significance is genetic rather than gustatory: DNA fingerprinting by Carole Meredith's UC Davis team and colleagues (published 1999) revealed that Gouais Blanc, crossed spontaneously with Pinot, is the parent of at least sixteen northeastern French varieties — including Chardonnay, Gamay, Aligoté, Melon (Muscadet) and Auxerrois — with later work extending its progeny to dozens more. Because peasants' humble Gouais grew side by side with the nobles' Pinot, the two crossed naturally, seeding much of the modern wine world. Coarse and tart as a wine, it is nonetheless the mother of many grapes, and a cornerstone of grape genealogy.
Variety profile
Editorial notes
Almost never encountered as a wine today — its importance is as an ancestral parent. Seek out for the story and lineage, not the flavour.