Clairette

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Clairette
Grape Varieties
Clairette

Clairette is a light-colored grape variety that grows throughout southern France. It was once widespread, but changing tastes and fashions since the 18th and 19th centuries have seen this grape replaced with higher-quality varieties. However, there are still a few Clairette strongholds in the Rhone Valley and in Languedoc, where it makes fresh, sparkling wines and light, easy-drinking still wines.

Varietal Clairette wines are most often sparkling. A large amount of plantings can be found in the central Rhone Valley near Montelimar, and fall under the Clairette de Die appellation, which reputedly predates the sparkling wines of Champagne. Some of the wines made under this appellation must be 100 percent Clairette, but those labeled as Tradition (formerly Methode Ancestrale) are instead required to be 75 percent Muscat Blanc a Petits Grains. The Coteaux de Die and Cremant de Die appellations also permit the use of Clairette in varying proportions.

Further west, Clairette is found in still wines under the Clairette du Languedoc and Clairette de Bellegarde appellations. The latter of these produces a tiny output of still, dry wines, while the former is also permitted in a richly sweet rancio style. Clairette is also permitted as a minor blending grape in a wide range of other appellations in the Languedoc and Rhone regions: perhaps most notably in the red and white wines of Chateauneuf-du-Pape.

Small plantings exist in Italy, as well as a handful of countries outside of Europe including South Africa and Lebanon.

Clairette
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