Béquignol noir

[1] Ampelographers believe that the name Béquignol comes from the Gascon dialect terms béc and inhol which together means literally "little beak" and could be a reference to the size of the berries.

The first written record of Béquignol noir comes from the journals of mayor of Libourne Antoine Feuilhade who wrote about the grape being cultivated in the Bordeaux wine region between 1763 and 1777.

[1] Though Béquignol noir originated in France, today it is rarely seen with less than 1 hectare (2.5 acres) of the grape reported in 2008 all in the Gironde and Vendée regions where it is still an authorized variety for wine production.

[1] The vast majority of the world's Béquignol noir plantings are in Argentina where the grape is also known as Red Chenin.

Here the grape is used similarly to Douce noir (Bonarda) in adding color to darken up red wine blends.

Béquignol noir is often confused with the Southwest France wine grape Fer (pictured) .
Outside of its French homeland Béquignol noir is widely planted in the Mendoza province of Argentina.