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Concept
Bouchalès
Summary
Bouchalès or Grapput is a red French wine grape variety that is grown primarily in Bordeaux and Southwest France wine appellations. Plantings have declined in recent years as the vine has shown high sensitivity to downy mildew and black rot.
Old vine plantings of Bouchalès that more than a 100 years exist at Château de la Vieille-Chapelle in the Fronsac AOC located just northwest of the city of Libourne in the "Right Bank" region of Bordeaux. These vines are believed to be some of the oldest vines in Bordeaux (where only 27% of the vines average more than 30 years age ), having likely survived the phylloxera epidemic of the late 19th century due to the ancient Libournais practice of flooding the vineyards in winter which would disrupt the nymph stage in the life cycle of phylloxera.
French ampelographer Guy Lavignac has theorized that the name Bouchalès comes from the Occitan word boish meaning "box tree" and could refer to the way that the Bouchalès vine in full foliage resembles a box shape. However, Master of Wine Jancis Robinson notes that many Vitis vinifera grapevines resemble boxes, and since Bouchalès is a common surname in the Lot-et-Garonne region, it is likely that the grape took on the name of one of its propagators.
In the Dordogne region, Bouchalès is also known as Bouissalet; this has led some ampelographers to believe that the grape could be a dark color mutation of the white wine grape Arrufiac which is known as Bouissalet in the Pacherenc du Vic-Bilh region, but DNA testing has ruled out a connection between the two varieties.
Documents from 1783-1784 described Bouchalès being widely planted throughout southwest France (the Sud-ouest), particularly in the Lot-et-Garonne, Gers, and Dordogne departments. Vineyards in Agen, Auch, Estillac, Saint-Barthélemy-de-Bellegarde, and Tonneins were particularly noted for Bouchalès growing well there and producing deeply colored "black wine" of good quality.
Like many Vitis vinifera varieties, plantings of Bouchalès were decimated during the phylloxera epidemic of the late 19th century.
Official source
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