Léon Millot is a red variety of hybrid grape used for wine

Wine

Wine is an alcoholic beverage, made of fermented fruit juice, usually from grapes. The natural chemical balance of grapes lets them ferment without the addition of sugars, acids, enzymes, or other nutrients. Grape wine is produced by fermenting crushed grapes using various types of yeast. Yeast...

. It was created in 1911 in the Oberlin Institute in Colmar

Colmar

Colmar is a commune in the Haut-Rhin department in Alsace in north-eastern France.It is the capital of the department. Colmar is also the seat of the highest jurisdiction in Alsace, the appellate court....

, Alsace

Alsace

Alsace is the fifth-smallest of the 27 regions of France in land area , and the smallest in metropolitan France. It is also the seventh-most densely populated region in France and third most densely populated region in metropolitan France, with ca. 220 inhabitants per km²...

, by the French viticulturist Eugène Kuhlmann (1858-1932) by crossing the hybrid grape Millardet et Grasset 101-14 O.P. (which is Vitis riparia

Vitis riparia

Vitis riparia Michx, also commonly known as River Bank Grape or Frost Grape, is a native American climbing or trailing vine, widely distributed from Quebec to Texas, and Montana to New England. It is long-lived and capable of reaching into the upper canopy of the tallest trees...

 × Vitis rupestris

Vitis rupestris

Vitis rupestris is a kind of grape native to the Southern and Western United States that is known by many common names including July, sand, sugar, beach, bush, currant, ingar, rock, and mountain grape. It is used for breeding several French-American hybrids as well as many root stocks. ...

) with Goldriesling

Goldriesling

Goldriesling is a grape variety of the species Vitis vinifera used for white wine. It was created in 1893 by Christian Oberlin in Colmar, Alsace by crossing Riesling with another grape variety, which is sometimes given as Courtillier Musqué Précoce, but not identified conclusively.Goldriesling is...

, which is Vitis vinifera

Vitis vinifera

Vitis vinifera is a species of Vitis, native to the Mediterranean region, central Europe, and southwestern Asia, from Morocco and Portugal north to southern Germany and east to northern Iran....

. The variety was named after the winemaker and tree nusery owner Léon Millot.

Léon Millot ripens early, and has high resistance against fungal diseases. It is therefore suited for cultivation in colder climates. It gives powerful wine with some foxy aromas.

Léon Millot is cultivated in small amounts in Switzerland

Swiss wine

Swiss wine is produced from nearly 15 000 hectares of vineyards, and the wines are mainly produced in the west and in the south of Switzerland, in the cantons of Geneva, Neuchâtel, Ticino, Valais and Vaud...

 (on 9.35 hectares (23.1 acre) in 2009), Alsace

Alsace wine

Alsace wine or Alsatian wine is produced in the Alsace region in France and is primarily white. These wines, which for historical reasons have a strong Germanic influence, are produced under three different Appellations d'Origine Contrôlées : Alsace AOC for white, rosé and red wines, Alsace Grand...

 and Canada

Canadian wine

Canadian wine is produced in mainly southern British Columbia and southern Ontario. There is also a growing number of small scale producers of grapes and wine in southern Quebec and Nova Scotia. The two largest wine-producing regions in Canada are the Okanagan Valley of British Columbia and the...

. In August 2011, a Leon Millot varietal wine produced by a vineyard in the Finger Lakes

Finger Lakes

The Finger Lakes are a pattern of lakes in the west-central section of Upstate New York in the United States. They are a popular tourist destination. The lakes are long and thin , each oriented roughly on a north-south axis. The two longest, Cayuga Lake and Seneca Lake, are among the deepest in...

 region of New York State won the prize for "best red wine" in the "New York Wine and Food Classic," sponsored by the New York Wine and Grape Foundation and open to all of New York’s 307 wineries.

In similarity with many other hybrid grapes, Leon Millot was originally not allowed to be used in professional winemaking in the European Union

European Union

The European Union is an economic and political union of 27 independent member states which are located primarily in Europe. The EU traces its origins from the European Coal and Steel Community and the European Economic Community , formed by six countries in 1958...

. However, after the regulations were somewhat relaxed, varieties with some Vitis vinifera in their pedigree, such as Léon Millot, are currently allowed to be used for wine production in Europe.

Léon Millot was the product of the same crossing trials as Lucie Kuhlmann and Maréchal Foch

Maréchal Foch

Maréchal Foch can refer to*Ferdinand Foch, a French soldier and writer*Marechal Foch, a hybrid red wine grape named after Ferdinand Foch...

, and these three varieties are related.

Synonyms

Léon Millot is also known under the synonyms Kuhlmann 194-2 and Millot. It also supposed to have been called Frühe Schwarze when cultivated in the German wine region of Ahr

Ahr (wine region)

Ahr is a wine region for quality wine in Germany, and is located in the valley of the river Ahr, a tributary of Rhine, and is situated in the federal state of Rhineland-Palatinate. With only of vines as of 2008, it is one of smaller of Germany's 13 regions...

.