Roublot is a traditional French

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...

 variety of white wine grape that is a sibling of Chardonnay

Chardonnay

Chardonnay is a green-skinned grape variety used to make white wine. It is originated from the Burgundy wine region of eastern France but is now grown wherever wine is produced, from England to New Zealand...

. It was once quite widely grown near Auxerre

Auxerre

Auxerre is a commune in the Bourgogne region in north-central France, between Paris and Dijon. It is the capital of the Yonne department.Auxerre's population today is about 45,000...

.

History

In the early 19th century, Roublot made up a third of the area in Saint-Bris-le-Vineux

Saint-Bris-le-Vineux

Saint-Bris-le-Vineux is a commune in the Yonne department in Burgundy in north-central France.It lies near Auxerre.-See also:* Saint-Bris AOC, a white wine from the area around Saint-Bris-le-Vineux, made from Sauvignon variety grapes....

 in the west of Chablis. Then the vines were wiped out in the phylloxera

Phylloxera

Grape phylloxera ; originally described in France as Phylloxera vastatrix; equated to the previously described Daktulosphaira vitifoliae, Phylloxera vitifoliae; commonly just called phylloxera is a pest of commercial grapevines worldwide, originally native to eastern North America...

 epidemic, and uniquely for Burgundy, were replaced by 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...

, the wines of which today are designated Saint-Bris AOC

Saint-Bris AOC

Saint-Bris is an Appellation d'origine contrôlée for white wine in the Burgundy wine region of France. This AOC is located around the village Saint-Bris-le-Vineux in the Yonne department, a few kilometers southwest of the Chablis AOC area, and southeast of the city of Auxerre, which places it...

.

DNA fingerprinting has shown that Roublot is one of many grapes to be the result of a cross between Gouais Blanc

Gouais Blanc

Gouais Blanc or Weißer Heunisch is a white grape variety that is seldom grown today but is important as the ancestor of many traditional French and German grape varieties. The name Gouais derives from the old French adjective ‘gou’, a term of derision befitting its traditional status as the grape...

 (Heunisch) and Pinot

Pinot

-Grape varieties:* One of several grape varieties and associated wines** Pinot blanc ** Pinot gris ** Pinot meunier** Pinot noir...

, making it a full sibling of famous varieties such as Chardonnay and Aligoté

Aligoté

Aligoté is a white grape used to make dry white wines in the Burgundy region of France, and which also has significant plantings in much of Eastern Europe including Romania, Russia, Ukraine, Moldova and Bulgaria. With , it was the 22nd most planted vine variety in the world in 2004...

. Gouais Blanc was widely grown by the French peasantry in the Medieval ages. This offered lots of opportunities for hybridisation, and the offspring benefited from hybrid vigour as the parents were genetically quite different.

The synonym César Blanc is interesting, as it reflects a traditional link with the ancient red grape César

César (grape)

César is an ancient red wine grape from northern Burgundy. It makes dark, tannic wines that are softened by blending with Pinot Noir and sometimes by carbonic maceration...

, a Pinot/Argant

Argant

Argant is an ancient variety of red wine grape. It originated in Spain and may have been taken to eastern France by the Romans. It was briefly popular, but little of it remains today. It used to be common in southwestern Germany and in Austria under the name Gänsfüßer .-History:As the alternative...

 cross.

Vine and viticulture

Like many Pinot/Gouais crosses, Roublot is quite vigorous, with small bunches. It is a very unreliable yielder, thanks to its high susceptibility 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...

 and grey rot.

Synonyms

Aubanne, César Blanc, César Femelle, L'Haubanne, Meslier, Plant De Vaux, Plant Paule, Robleau, Roblot, Roublat, Roubleau

See also

• Other Gouais Blanc/Pinot crosses include Aubin Vert
  Aubin Vert
  Aubin Vert is a white wine grape cultivar grown in the Lorraine region of France. Small vineyards are found in Bulligny, Bruley, Pagney and Rozérieulles. Within the last century, it has also been grown in Thiaucourt-Regniéville, d'Euvezin and Magny...
  
  , Auxerrois
  Auxerrois Blanc
  Auxerrois Blanc or Auxerrois Blanc de Laquenexy is a white wine grape that is important in Alsace, and is also grown in Germany and Luxembourg. It is a full sibling of Chardonnay that is often blended with the similar Pinot Blanc.-History:...
  
  , Bachet noir
  Bachet noir
  Bachet Noir is a traditional French variety of red wine grape that is a sibling of Chardonnay. A little is still grown in the Aube, where it is used to add colour and body to Gamay wines.-History:...
  
  , Beaunoir
  Beaunoir
  Beaunoir is a traditional French variety of red wine grape that is a sibling of Chardonnay. The 'beautiful black' grape produces a thin wine and not much is grown these days.-History:...
  
  , Franc Noir de la Haute-Saône
  Franc Noir de la Haute-Saône
  Franc Noir de la Haute-Saône is a traditional French variety of red wine grape that is a sibling of Chardonnay. It makes thin, tart wine and has largely disappeared from cultivation.-History:...
  
  , Gamay Blanc Gloriod
  Gamay Blanc Gloriod
  Gamay Blanc Gloriod is an obscure French variety of white wine grape. Very little of it is grown commercially.It is named after Émile Gloriod, who discovered it as a seedling; it was originally thought to be a white version of the Gamay grape. "Gamay Blanc" was already used as an alternative name...
  
  , Gamay
  Gamay
  Gamay is a purple-colored grape variety used to make red wines, most notably grown in Beaujolais and in the Loire Valley around Tours. Its full name is Gamay Noir à Jus Blanc. It is a very old cultivar, mentioned as long ago as the 15th century...
  
  , Melon, Knipperlé
  Knipperlé
  Knipperlé is a traditional French variety of white wine grape from Alsace. It's not listed for use in AOC wine, but is a minor component of blends for local drinking, in some ways an Alsatian equivalent of its sibling Aligoté in Burgundy.-History:...
  
  , Peurion
  Peurion
  Peurion is a traditional French variety of white wine grape that is a sibling of Chardonnay. Once quite popular, not much is still grown in France these days.-History:...
  
  , Romorantin
  Romorantin
  Romorantin is a traditional French variety of white wine grape, that is a sibling of Chardonnay. Once quite widely grown in the Loire, it has now only seen in the Cour-Cheverny AOC. It produces intense, minerally wines somewhat reminiscent of Chablis....
  
  , Roublot, and Sacy
  Sacy (grape)
  Sacy is a white wine grape grown primarily in the central and northeastern France within the Yonne and Allier départments.Sacy ripens early, and produces light-coloured wines low in acid and alcohol.-Parentage:...