Vignoles
A French-American hybrid with piercing acidity and pineapple-apricot fruit. It's the go-to grape for late-harvest and ice wines from Michigan to Missouri and the Finger Lakes.
Vignoles is a French-American hybrid white grape best known for sweet, intensely fruity late-harvest and ice wines. J. F. Ravat bred it in France in the 1930s (it's also known as Ravat 51), and one of its parents is a grape known as Pinot de Corton. Its tight clusters and very high acidity make it ideal for dessert wines, and it's widely grown in the Midwest and Northeast.
What It Tastes Like
Vignoles is all about pineapple, apricot, grapefruit and honey, carried on piercing acidity. Off-dry and semi-sweet versions are juicy and bright. Late-harvest wines, often made from grapes touched by noble rot, add dried apricot, marmalade and honey. Because of all that acid, even very sweet Vignoles finishes fresh. Dry versions exist but are rarer.
Where It Grows
Vignoles is a signature white in Missouri, where it's grown around Hermann and Augusta. It's also planted in Michigan (on the Leelanau Peninsula and Old Mission Peninsula and along the Lake Michigan Shore), New York's Finger Lakes, Ohio, Pennsylvania, Illinois, Indiana and North Carolina's Yadkin Valley. It survives winters to about -15°F, though its early bud break can expose it to spring frost.
What to Look For
- Late-harvest Vignoles is the grape at its best and a great introduction to dessert wine.
- Ice wine from northern Michigan and the Finger Lakes.
- Off-dry Vignoles, a popular tasting-room white.
- Sparkling wines: Michigan's sparkling producers sometimes use Vignoles in their blends.
Where to Find Vignoles
Wine regions on American Winery Guide where Vignoles is grown or poured: