Enfariné noir

Enfariné noir (or Gouais noir) is a red French wine grape variety that is grown predominantly in the Jura wine region of eastern France. Despite being known under the synonym Gouais noir in the Aisne, Aube, Marne, Meuse and Seine-et-Marne departments, the grape has no known connection to the Gouais blanc wine grape that is the parent of several wine grape varieties such as Chardonnay, Gamay and Melon de Bourgogne. While once widely planted throughout the Franche-Comté, the grape is now nearly extinct with less than 1 hectare (2.5 acres) of the variety planted in 2008.

History

The name Enfariné comes from the French word farine meaning flour. It comes from the "bloom" or "blush" (now known to be indigenous yeast) that covers ripening grapes, looking like flour dusting. Some ampelographers, such as Pierre Galet, speculate that the grape originated in the Aube department in what is now part of the Champagne wine region.

The first written record of Enfariné noir comes from a February 3, 1731 decree from the parliament of Besançon in the Doubs department of the Franche-Comté. This decree mandated that all plantings of several grape varieties, including Enfariné, Foirard noir, Foirard blanc, Maldoux, Valet noir and Barclan blanc, that were planted after 1702 had to be uprooted and replaced with cereal crops. According to an 1856 report, this parliamentary decree resulted in a decreasing of vineyard plantings by more than a third by 1732.

The synonym Gouais noir has long been attached to Enfariné noir but ampelographers have determined that Enfariné noir is not a color mutation of Gouais blanc with no known connection between the two grapes.