Definition: ugni blanc

This grape variety buds late, thus escaping spring frosts, but resulting in late ripening. It grows vigorously, making young shoots vulnerable to wind. It is fairly resistant to grey rot thanks to its thick skin, but is susceptible to powdery mildew and downy mildew. It is a mass-produced grape variety. (100 to over 200 hl/ha)
It is traditionally grown in Italy for the production of a wine that is not very aromatic but lively and best served very chilled.
In France, it is grown in the Mediterranean region, providing the backbone for white table wines, blended with a more aromatic wine. It has taken the name Ugni Blanc. When phylloxera arrived, it was found in the Cognac and Armagnac regions that it was difficult to find a good rootstock for Folle Blanche: grafting gave it excessive vigour, making it very susceptible to grey rot, which destroyed several harvests. Ugni blanc was then adopted, producing an abundant, very acidic green wine that could be stored all winter without sulphur dioxide, which is prohibited in the production of cognac.
It represents a declining area of around 80,000 hectares in France, 50,000 hectares in Italy and 20,000 hectares in Bulgaria. There are a few plantations in America, Australia and South Africa.

Ugni blanc Conservatory
Located at the Lycée agricole de l'Oisellerie, a few steps from Angoulême, the Ugni Blanc Conservatory presents a collection of 500 accessions (plants from the same original stock) of Ugni Blanc. The aim of this collection is to preserve Ugni Blanc clones that are as different as possible, in the hope that these differences will provide plant material that is adapted to future changes in production conditions, particularly climate change. To create this conservatory, the oldest Ugni Blanc vines were surveyed by BNIC technicians in the Mediterranean south, Corsica, the south-west and the Charentes. In Charente alone, 200 plots over 50 years old, some of which are even over 100 years old, have been identified.