Marselan
From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia
| Marselan | |
|---|---|
| Grape (Vitis) | |
 Marselan grapes | |
| Color of berry skin | Noir |
| Species | Vitis vinifera |
| Origin | France |
| Notable regions | Languedoc, California, China, Palestine |
| VIVC number | 16383 |
Marselan is a red French wine grape variety that is a cross between Cabernet Sauvignon and Grenache. It was first bred in 1961 by Paul Truel near the French town of Marseillan.[1] The vine is grown mostly in the Languedoc wine region with some plantings in the Northern Coast of California. It has also become very popular in China. The grape usually produces a medium body red wine.[2]
Along with Cabernet Sauvignon and Merlot, Marselan is one of the grapes planted in the Sino-French Demonstration Vineyard, a collaboration project between the Chinese and French government intended to generate interest in grape winemaking in China by demonstrating French grapes and winemaking techniques.[3][4][5]
Marselan was bred by French ampelographer Paul Truel in 1961 at the Institut National de la Recherche Agronomique (INRA) as part of a collaboration with the École nationale supérieure agronomique de Montpellier (ENSAM) to produce high yielding varieties with large berries of moderate quality. As Marselan could only produce small berries, the vine variety was shelved and considered not likely to be commercially released.[4]
But viticulture trends in the late 20th century that began to value lower yielding varieties with good disease resistance to hazards like powdery mildew encouraged the INRA to revisit Marselan. The vine was submitted for approval for commercial release and was entered in the official register of grape varieties in 1990.[4]
In 2007, the name "Marselan" was approved by the US Alcohol and Tobacco Tax and Trade Bureau (TTB) for use on wine labels imported to the United States, meaning that varietal version of the wine that are labeled as such can be sold on the US market.[2]
The name "Marselan" is taken from the French coastal town of Marseillan located between Béziers and Montpellier where the phylloxera-safe vine collection of Domaine de Vassal is located. Operated by the INRA, Domaine de Vassal provided Marselan's parent Cabernet Sauvignon and Grenache vines which Truel used in his breeding.[4]
Viticulture
Marselan tends to produce large clusters of small berries that are mid-late ripening. It has strong disease resistance to botrytis bunch rot and powdery mildew as well as to coulure and mites.[4]
