Baroque is a white French wine

French wine

French wine is produced in several regions throughout France, in quantities between 50 and 60 million hectolitres per year, or 7–8 billion bottles. France has the world's second-largest total vineyard area, behind Spain, and is in the position of being the world's largest wine producer...

 grape planted primarily in South West France

South West France (wine region)

South West France or in French Sud-Ouest, is a wine region in France covering several wine-producing areas situated respectively inland from, and south of, the wine region of Bordeaux...

 around the Tursan

Tursan

Tursan is a Vin délimité de qualité supérieure for wine in South West France since 1958 .-Presentation:...

 region. It can make full bodied wines with nutty flavors. Ampelographers suspect that the grape maybe a crossing of Folle Blanche

Folle Blanche

Folle Blanche was the traditional grape variety of the Cognac and Armagnac regions of France. It is also known as Picpoule as well as Gros Plant and Enrageat Blanc...

 (which it shares the synonym

Synonym

Synonyms are different words with almost identical or similar meanings. Words that are synonyms are said to be synonymous, and the state of being a synonym is called synonymy. The word comes from Ancient Greek syn and onoma . The words car and automobile are synonyms...

 Bordeleza zuria with) and Sauvignon blanc

Sauvignon blanc

Sauvignon Blanc is a green-skinned grape variety which originates from the Bordeaux region of France. The grape most likely gets its name from the French word sauvage and blanc due to its early origins as an indigenous grape in South West France., a possible descendant of savagnin...

.

History

While the exact origins of the grape are not clear, ampelographers believe it may be descended from a crossing of the French white grapes Folle Blanche and Sauvignon blanc. While it was once grown throughout southwest France, today its plantings are primarily isolated to the Landes department which contains Vin délimité de qualité supérieure (VDQS) wine region of Tursan. In the 20th century, Baroque gained favor among vine growers because of its resistance to powdery mildew

Powdery mildew

Powdery mildew is a fungal disease that affects a wide range of plants. Powdery mildew diseases are caused by many different species of fungi in the order Erysiphales. It is one of the easier diseases to spot, as its symptoms are quite distinctive. Infected plants display white powdery spots on the...

 which decimated many other grape varieties. However, by the 1980s the grape was virtually on the edge of extinction

Extinction

In biology and ecology, extinction is the end of an organism or of a group of organisms , normally a species. The moment of extinction is generally considered to be the death of the last individual of the species, although the capacity to breed and recover may have been lost before this point...

 because of the ripping out of vineyards in the Landes and converting the land to other agricultural and development enterprises.

Wine historian and expert Jancis Robinson

Jancis Robinson

Jancis Mary Robinson OBE, MW is a British wine critic, journalist and editor of wine literature. She currently writes a weekly column for the Financial Times, and writes for her website jancisrobinson.com...

 notes that Baroque was saved from extinction by the efforts of chef Michel Guérard

Michel Guérard

Michel Guérard is a French chef, author, one of the founders of nouvelle cuisine, and the inventor of cuisine minceur.- Biography :...

, owner of the 3 star Michelin rated

Michelin Guide

The Michelin Guide is a series of annual guide books published by Michelin for over a dozen countries. The term normally refers to the Michelin Red Guide, the oldest and best-known European hotel and restaurant guide, which awards the Michelin stars...

 restaurant Les Prés d'Eugénie in Eugénie-les-Bains

Eugénie-les-Bains

Eugénie-les-Bains is a commune in the Landes department in Aquitaine in south-western France.Eugénie-les-Bains is most well known for housing a spa resort and three restaurants, all belonging to chef Michel Guérard, inventor of cuisine minceur.-See also:...

. At the Tursan wine estate owned by himself and his wife, Guérard revived interest in the variety by producing an aromatic full-bodied Baroque-based that critics have described as "characterful".

Wine region

The grape is almost exclusive to the South West France wine region of Tursan, with very little plantings of the grape to be found elsewhere in the world.

Wines

Baroque produces a full bodied wine with noticeable alcohol levels and weight. It shares many of the same aroma characteristics as Sauvignon blanc.

Synonyms

Over the years, Baroque has had several synonyms including: Barake, Baroca, Baroke, Barroque, Blanc Bordelais, Bordelais, Bordelais blanc, Bordeleza zuria, Boudales, Bourdales, Claverie blanc, Escripet folle, Muscadelle de Nates, Petit Bordelais, Plant Bordelais and Sable blanc.