Blanchier: Ancient Variety Rediscovered in Vineyards in Valais

Although fairly widespread in the vineyards of Valais in the 19th century, Blanchier seemed to have disappeared. Now the grape variety was rediscovered in several locations.

In 1905 the ampelographt Adrien Berget published a description of Blanchier, a variety which was still fairly widespread in the vineyards of Valais at that time. Other local sources also mentioned its existence. However, by the end of the 20th century, this variety seemed to have completely disappeared.

The mysterious Blanc des Hombes

In 1997, plant material from an unknown white grape variety was recovered from a vine trellis in the Swiss village of Chelin, in the municipality of Lens (Valais), in a place called Les Hombes. In 1999 this variety was added to Agroscope’s ampelographic collection at Pully under the name Blanc des Hombes. Genetic analyses undertaken at the time did not identify it as another existing variety. During the 2000s, four new accessions of this variety were discovered at different sites in Valaisian vineyards (Fully, Granges, Lalden and Mont Noble).

Compelling evidence

Ampelographic and agronomic observations of Blanc des Hombes showed that its characteristics perfectly matched Adrien Berget’s description of Blanchier from 1905. Furthermore, the most recent accession of Blanc des Hombes was found in 2015 in a vineyard in the municipality of Mont Noble. According to information provided by the owner, this vineyard was planted with Gros Bourgogne and Blanchier before being restocked in 1957-1958 following the big winter freeze of 1956.

All these clues and the recurring discoveries allude to a lost ancient variety and indicate that Blanc des Hombes is indeed the variety named Blanchier described by Adrien Berget in 1905.

Transalpine origin

Recently, Italian colleagues genetically analysed more than 178 accessions originating from the Emilia-Romagna region and found that the variety Blanc des Hombes discovered on multiple occasions in Valais is identical to the variety known in Italy as Stciucaera bianca. This is additional evidence of the flow of varieties across the alps over the centuries.