Poulsard
Poulsard (also Ploussard) is a red French wine grape variety from the Jura wine region. The name Ploussard is used mainly around the town of Pupillin but can appear on wine labels throughout Jura as an authorized synonyms. While technically a dark skin noir grape, the skins of Poulsard are very thin with low amounts of color phenols and can produce only very pale colored red wines, even with extended maceration. Because of this, Poulsard is often blended with other red-skin varieties or used to produce lightly colored rosé wines. Additionally the grape is used to make blanc de noir white wines and sparkling cremants.[1]
Poulsard is an authorized grape variety in the Appellation d'Origine Contrôlée (AOC) wines of Arbois AOC, Côtes du Jura AOC, Crémant du Jura AOC, L'Etoile AOC and Macvin du Jura AOC. Outside of Jura, Poulsard is also grown in Bugey AOC of the Ain département in eastern France .
Viticulture
The Poulsard vine tends to buds early, which makes it prone to the viticultural hazard of early spring time frost. Additionally the vine is very susceptible to various grape diseases including downey mildew, grey rot and oidium. These issues, coupled with its low phenolics and coloring pigments, have contributed to the grapes decline for most of the 20th century and into the early 21st century.[2]
Historically, Poulsard has been used in eastern France as a table grape but its thin skin has made transport of the grape beyond local villages difficult.[2]
Clones
Over the centuries the Poulsard grape has developed a number of mutations that have allowed clones of the variety to emerge. In addition to the light red-berried form that is most commonly found, there is a completely white-skin and separate pink-skinned variety of Poulsard as well as deeply aromatic, darker skin variety musqué clone.[2]
Wine styles
While most red skin grape contribute color over a matter of hours to a few days during the maceration process where the skin is kept in contact with the fermenting must, the amount of pigment in Poulsard is so low that even after a week of extended maceration very little color has seeped into the must. It is for this reason that Poulsard is often used in the production of white and lightly colored rosé wines.[1]
Though Poulsard can be used to produce a varietal wine, its often blended the grape with other varieties either for enhanced color or to allow the Poulsard to contributes to the aroma of the blend. Among the grapes that Poulsard are often blended with is both Trousseau Noir, Trousseau Gris, and Pinot noir.[1]