Madeleine Angevine | |
---|---|
Grape (Vitis) | |
Color of berry skin | Blanc |
Species | Vitis vinifera |
Also called | see list of synonyms |
Origin | France |
Original pedigree | Malingre Précoce × Madeleine Royale |
Breeder | Moreau-Robert |
Year of crossing | 1857 |
VIVC number | 7062 |
Madeleine Angevine is a white wine grape from the Loire Valley in France that is also popular in Germany, Kyrgyzstan [1] and Washington state. [2] The early-ripening grape is a cross between Madeleine Royale and Malingre Précoce grapes that grows well in cooler climates. Madeleine Angevine makes an attractive fruity wine with a flowery nose, similar to an Alsatian Pinot blanc. It is crisp, acid and dry and pairs particularly well with seafoods such as crab and oyster. [3]
Madeleine Angevine was crossed with Silvaner Geilweilerhof to make the Noblessa and Forta grapes. It was crossed with Traminer to make the Comtessa grape. [4]
In Washington State, the grape has developed a cult following in the Puget Sound region for its floral character and easy-drinking nature. [5]
The variety called ‘Madeleine Angevine’ in the UK is more properly called Madeleine x Angevine 7672. [6] In 1957 Ray Brock at Oxted was sent cuttings of several varieties by Dr. Zimmerman from Alzey and one of them was labelled ‘Sämling [seedling] 7672’. Just when this crossing was made is not known, although the timing would suggest that it was while Georg Scheu – responsible for varieties such as Huxelrebe, Faberrebe, Kanzler, Regner, Scheurebe, Septimer, Siegerrebe and Würzer – was the Alzey Institute's Director. By 1960 Brock was able to report that it was giving large crops which ripen with Riesling Sylvaner [MT]. Considered to be a promising variety. Not having been given the crossing details of Sämling 7672, Brock wrote to Zimmerman and asked for them. He was informed that it was a ‘freely pollinated seedling of Madeleine Angevine’. When Brock started to sell cuttings of the variety (as he did with all promising varieties) he gave it the name Madeleine x Angevine 7672 and it was under this name that it was known for many years. As it became quite popular, the name on wine labels became shortened to simply ‘Madeleine Angevine’. This was an unfortunate name as another variety already existed under this name. The true Madeleine Angevine (also sometimes called Madeleine d’Angevine), is a female-only table-grape variety, a crossing of Précoce de Malingre and Madeleine Royale made by Pierre Vibert at the Moreau-Robert nurseries in Angers in 1857 (some reports say 1859). It is one of the earliest table-grape varieties for open cultivation in France. Having only female flowers and being very early, it has been used by plant breeders in a number of crosses over the years. Morio and Husfeld used it for Forta and Noblessa and it is one grandparent of Reichensteiner. Scheu himself used it to produce Siegerrebe, and this variety, which at one time was credited with being a Madeleine Angevine x Gewürztraminer crossing, was unmasked by Heinz Scheu – Georg's son – as also being a freely pollinated Madeleine Angevine seedling. It is conceivable that the variety we now grow in the UK as Madeleine x Angevine 7672 comes from the same crossing programme that produced Siegerrebe. In 1992, I asked Professor Dr. Alleweldt, then head of the Geilweilerhof State Institute for Grapevine Breeding, to see if he could discover more about our Mad Angie (as it is often known). He located Georg Scheu's old breeding books in the Alzey archives and found that ‘Sämling 7672’ was – as Brock was originally told – an ‘open-pollinated progeny of Madeleine Angevine’.
Madeleine x Angevine 7672 found favour with many of the early UK growers and it became fairly widespread. At one time it was the third most popular variety (after MT and Seyval blanc) and Gillian Pearkes, in the West Country, thought highly of it. Unfortunately, owing to the confusion over the name and the fact that this variety was not available from any other source other than Brock's original stock or vineyards planted with vines obtained from Brock, some growers were sold vines of the true table grape variety Madeleine Angevine, which was barely suitable for the UK, except in the very best years. Unless it was being grown in proximity to other early varieties for pollination, it seldom set a good crop and in some years, ripened at the end of August. The wines from this table grape variety were flabby and never really acceptable, except for blending. The confusion over this variety – foreseen in a rare moment of sanity (as far as rules and regulations governing UK viticulture is concerned) by the EU Commission in 1973 when MAFF submitted vine varieties for classification – has meant that it gained something of a chequered reputation.
Today, the area planted is 46.8-hectares and under 4 per cent of the UK's planted area – down from 54.6-hectares in 1990, but not drastically so. Its supporters like it: it ripens early, gives good crops and the wines have a light Muscat tone. It has a low acidity (usually a blessing) and is easy to grow. It ripens in the Puget Sound AVA approx. 3rd week September, our annual GDD-50 averages 2,000. [7]
Madeleine Angevine is also known under the synonyms Azhupskaja Mladenka, Chasselas de Talhouet, Juliusi Magdolna, Korai Magda, Maddalena Angevina, Madelaine Angevine, Madlen Angevine, Madlen Anzevin, Madlen Anzhevin, Madlen Anzhuiskaya, Madlenka Rana, Magdalene Angevine, Magdalenka Skora, Magdalina Anzhuiskaya, Margitszoeloe, Petrovskii, and Republician. [8]
Gewürztraminer is an aromatic wine grape variety, used in white wines, and which performs best in cooler climates. In English, it is sometimes referred to colloquially as Gewürz. In English and French it is usually written Gewurztraminer. Gewürztraminer is a variety with a pink to red skin colour, which makes it a "white wine grape" as opposed to the blue to black-skinned varieties commonly referred to as "red wine grapes". The variety has high natural sugar and the wines are white and usually off-dry, with a flamboyant bouquet of lychees. Indeed, Gewürztraminer and lychees share the same aroma compounds. Dry Gewürztraminers may also have aromas of roses, passion fruit and floral notes. It is not uncommon to notice some spritz.
Müller-Thurgau is a white grape variety which was created by Hermann Müller from the Swiss Canton of Thurgau in 1882 at the Geisenheim Grape Breeding Institute in Germany. It is a crossing of Riesling with Madeleine Royale. It is used to make white wine in Germany, Austria, Northern Italy, Hungary, England, Australia, the Czech Republic, Slovakia, Slovenia, New Zealand, Canada, the United States, Belgium and Japan. There are around 22,201 hectares ) cultivated worldwide, which makes Müller-Thurgau the most widely planted of the so-called "new breeds" of grape varieties created since the late 19th century. Although plantings have decreased significantly since the 1980s, as of 2019 it was still Germany's second most planted variety at 11,400 hectares and 11.4% of the total vineyard surface. In 2007, the 125th anniversary was celebrated at the Geisenheim Grape Breeding Institute. Müller-Thurgau is also known as Rivaner, Riesling x Sylvaner, Riesling-Sylvaner, Rizvanec (Slovenia) and Rizlingszilváni (Hungary).
Scheurebe or Sämling 88 is a white wine grape variety. It is primarily grown in Germany and Austria, where it often is called Sämling 88, and some parts of the New World. Scheurebe wines are highly aromatic, and the variety is often used for sweet wines, although dry Scheurebe wines have become more common in Germany.
Hermann Müller, was a Swiss botanist, plant physiologist, oenologist and grape breeder. He called himself Müller-Thurgau, taking the name of his home canton.
Huxelrebe is a white grape used for wine. Huxelrebe is primarily found in Germany, where the cultivated area covered 396 hectares in 2019, with a decreasing trend. It is primarily found in the German wine regions Rheinhessen, Palatinate and Nahe. Small plantations are also found in England.
Abouriou is a red French wine grape variety grown primarily in Southwest France and, in small quantities, California. It is a blending grape that, along with Malbec, Cabernet Sauvignon, Syrah, Fer, Cabernet Franc, and Merlot, is used to make the Appellation d'origine contrôlée (AOC) wine of Côtes du Marmandais. Abouriou can also be made into a varietal, as it is used in some vin de pays wines. The grape is known for its low acidity and high tannin content.
Siegerrebe is a white wine grape that is grown primarily in Germany with some plantings in England, Vancouver Island, Washington state, British Columbia's North Okanagan and Fraser Valley and Nova Scotia's Annapolis Valley along with a small planting in Tasmania, Australia at Every Man and His Dog Vineyard. Siegerrebe was created by German viticulturalist Dr. Georg Scheu (1879-1949) in 1929 at a grape-breeding institute in Alzey in Rheinhessen, by crossing Madeleine Angevine and Gewürztraminer. However, Georg Scheu's son Heinz Scheu has claimed in a book that Siegerrebe was the result of self-pollination of Madeleine Angevine. Siegerrebe received varietal protection and was released for general cultivation in Germany in 1958.
Madeleine Royale is a variety of white grape. It is mostly grown for table grapes or ornamental purposes, but is notable as a parent of Müller-Thurgau and Madeleine Angevine. It ripens extremely early, in some cases by the 22 July, the feast day of Mary Magdalene, hence the name.
Solaris is a variety of grape used for white wine. It was created in 1975 at the grape breeding institute in Freiburg, Germany by Norbert Becker.
Faberrebe or Faber is a grape variety used for white wine. It was created in 1929 by Georg Scheu at the Landesanstalt für Rebenzüchtung in Alzey and was released with varietal protection in 1967. Scheu created Faberrebe by crossing Pinot blanc and Müller-Thurgau.
Swedish wine, in terms of wine produced commercially from grapes grown in Sweden, is a very marginal but growing industry which saw its first beginnings in the late 1990s.
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.
Pinot Noir Précoce or, as it is called in parts of Germany, Frühburgunder is a dark, blue-black–skinned, variety of grape used for wine and is a form or mutation of Pinot noir, which differs essentially by ripening earlier than normal. Whilst sometimes treated as a separate grape variety by ampelographers, there are nevertheless those who consider it is simply an early ripening form of Pinot Noir, and in some cases, Pinot Noir Précoce wines may therefore be found straightforwardly labelled "Pinot noir".
Malingre Précoce is a white variety of grape of French origin used primarily as table grape and to some extent for wine. It was first cultivated by a French gardener named Malingre in the vicinity of Paris around 1840, who created it from seedlings of unknown origin. The term "précoce" indicates early ripening, and because of this property Malingre Précoce finds some use in cold climate viticulture. Malingre Précoce has been used as a crossing partner for many other grape varieties, including Madeleine Angevine and Zarya Severa.
Muscat d'Eisenstadt is a white variety of grape of French origin. It was first cultivated in 1842 by Auguste Courtiller (1795–1875), who created it by selecting seedlings from a Pinot Noir Précoce vine with open pollination. Courtiller worked in the Jardin des Plantes of the city of Saumur. Muscat d'Eisenstadt shows very early ripening, which is indicated by the term "précoce" in its name. This property has made Muscat d'Eisenstadt popular to use as a crossing partner for many other grape varieties, including Huxelrebe and possibly including Muscat Ottonel.
Marechal Joffre is a red inter-specific hybrid grape variety created by French viticulturist Eugène Kuhlmann (1858–1932). Like Marechal Foch, which was also created by Kuhlman, Marechal Joffre is named after a notable French World War I general, in this case Marshal Joseph Joffre.
The propagation of grapevines is an important consideration in commercial viticulture and winemaking. Grapevines, most of which belong to the Vitis vinifera family, produce one crop of fruit each growing season with a limited life span for individual vines. While some centenarian old vine examples of grape varieties exist, most grapevines are between the ages of 10 and 30 years. As vineyard owners seek to replant their vines, a number of techniques are available which may include planting a new cutting that has been selected by either clonal or mass (massal) selection. Vines can also be propagated by grafting a new plant vine upon existing rootstock or by layering one of the canes of an existing vine into the ground next to the vine and severing the connection when the new vine develops its own root system.
Luglienga is a white Italian wine and table grape variety that is grown across Europe. The grape has a long history of use, dating back to at least the 14th century in Piedmont but is today most seen a table grape that is occasionally used for home winemaking.
Zarya severa is a red grape variety. It is a descendant of the Asiatic wild grape Vitis amurensis and the grape Malingre Précoce and is thus a hybrid vine. The crossing took place at the Potapenko Viticulture Research Institute in Rostov Oblast, Russia in 1936. Because of its high winter frost resistance as well as its resistance to downy mildew, this variety, often mentioned by breeders in Eastern Europe, became a major breeding stock in the search for new varieties.
Georg Scheu, was a German botanist, plant physiologist, oenologist and grape breeder.