Baco Blanc - History and Parentage

History and Parentage

Baco Blanc was bred in 1898 by French grape breeder François Baco from a crossing of the Vitis vinifera Folle Blanche, which was having difficulties taking to the rootstock grafting after the phylloxera epidemic of the mid to late 19th century, and the American hybrid grape Noah (itself a previously crossing of an unknown Vitis labrusca species and the Vitis riparia grape Taylor. Four years earlier François Baco also use Folle Blanche and an unknown species of Vitis riparia to produce a dark skin version of Baco Blanc known as Baco Noir.

Prior to Baco Noir's development, Folle Blanche was the primarily grape variety for the eau de vie grape brandies produced in the Cognac and Armagnac regions of France. But, in addition to its difficulties with the new American rootstock, the grape was highly susceptible to several grape diseases including grey rot in the Cognac region and black rot in Armagnac. The aim of François Baco was to produce a grape that had many of the neutral flavors and characteristics which made Folle Blanche favorable for distillation but without the susceptibility that had plagued Folle Blanche growers. While growers in the Cognac region began adopting Ugni Blanc (the same grape known in Italy as Trebbiano), growers in the Armagnac region began to enthusiastically plant Baco's new white hybrid.

For most of the 20th century, Baco Blanc was the primary grape of the Armagnac region. Its reached it peak in the 1970s when more than 85% of all plantings in the area were Baco Blanc, accounting for more than 10,700 hectares (26,000 acres). However, as Ugni Blanc began gaining more of a foothold in other Gascon wine regions, the plantings of Baco Blanc began to gradually decline. By the end of the 20th century, Ugni Blanc had eclipsed Baco Blanc as the most widely planted grape in Armagnac.

This decline lead to some speculation about the future of the variety, especially after a 1992 (INAO) degree that all vines of Baco Blanc were to be uprooted by 2010. However, advocates for the grape variety and its historical role in Armagnac were able to persuade French authorities to continue permitting its use in the distilled wines from the Armagnac region. While far from its early to mid-20th century prominence, the variety continues to play an important role in the Armagnac region and, as of 2005, the Bureau National Interprofessionnel de L'Armagnac (BNIA) reported that the grape variety was still used in the production of nearly half of all Armagnac.