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A term that in the past has been used for the grape varieties once acknowledged to produce the world's great wines: cabernet sauvignon, chardonnay, merlot, pinot noir, sauvignon blanc, and riesling. In French, the term is cépages nobles.

 
 
Wikipedia: noble grapes

Noble grapes is the classical term used to describe the grapes traditionally associated with the highest quality wines. There are two qualifications for a grape in order for it to be called "Noble."

  1. It has to be able to make top quality wine by itself without any additions or modifications.
  2. It has to be grown in different regions of the world, not just in its native region.

Most of the noble grape varieties originated in France; as a result, grapes such as nebbiolo and zinfandel, while known for making fine wines, generally are not listed among the noble grapes.

The term is not as commonly used today, partly because of the proliferation of hybrid varieties, and partly because the term originated in France, and some people feel that the term unfairly slights varieties grown in other regions. Still, the term remains useful in understanding the history of wine, and many of the so-called noble grapes are now known as "international" grapes by some authorities due to their wide distribution.

White noble grapes

Red noble grapes

References

MacNeil, Karen, The Wine Bible. Workman Publishing, 2001, ISBN 1563054345.


 
 

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Copyrights:

Wine Lover's Companion. Wine Lover's Companion. Copyright © 2003 by Barron's Educational Series, Inc. All rights reserved.  Read more
Wikipedia. This article is licensed under the GNU Free Documentation License. It uses material from the Wikipedia article "Noble grapes" Read more

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