Canari noir

[1] Canari noir has a long history of being grown in the Ariège and Haute-Garonne departments in the shadows of the Pyrénées mountains but recent DNA evidence have led ampelographers to speculate that the grape was once more widely grown across the border into Spain and perhaps eastward throughout southern France and across the Alps into Italy.

However unlike the Pinot and Grenache varieties, the other Canari grapes are rarely seen and not currently used in commercial wine production.

[1] Over the years Canari noir has been known under a variety of synonyms including: Balza, Batista (in Spain), Blanchette rouge, Blanquette rouge, Boudales, Bourgogne, Caillaba, Canari, Canaril, Canarill (in the Ariège and Haute-Garonne departments), Carcasses, Carcassès (in Ariège), Cargo nalt, Cargonalt, Chalosse noire, Cot a Queue verte, Cot vert du Saumurois, Cotes Vertes, Enfin, Errone de Grolleau, Esquisse Braguette, Folle noir de la Viene, Folle noire, Gamay Luverdon (in the Val di Susa and Val Chisone region of Piedmont), Gamay de Malain, Gamay Malain, Grosse Negrette, Luverdon, Oeil de Chope, Œil de Chope, Ondane, Ondenc noir, Pinot gris, Pinot Gris Mendoza, Saint Helene, Sainte-Helene, Semis rouge, Ugne noir and Ugne noire.

[3] Canari gris has no known synonyms recognized by the Vitis International Variety Catalogue (VIVC) maintained by the Geilweilerhof Institute for Grape Breeding.

[4] Canari noir several synonyms with the Malbec grape known as Côt in Southwest France and associated with the wines of Bordeaux and Cahors.

The Ariège department where Canari noir has been historically grown.
While infection of Botrytis cinerea can be welcomed in some white grape varieties, in red wine grapes such as Canari noir it contributes to the viticultural hazard of botrytis bunch rot (pictured) .