Grolleau (grape)

The name is derived from the French word grolle, meaning "crow", and is said to reflect the deep black berries of the Grolleau vine.

[4] The decline has been attributed, in part, to Grolleau's reputation for poor quality as noted by wine experts such as Jancis Robinson[5] and Tom Stevenson.

[3] Grolleau is a high yielding grapevine that ripens reliably and relatively early for the cool climate Loire Valley-often right after Gamay.

The grapes are thin skinned with few phenolic compounds, but after veraison they produce color ranging from gray to bluish/black depending on the clone.

[3] Grolleau produces light bodied, fairly neutral wines with noticeably high acidity.

Grolleau is often blended with Gamay (pictured) and some wine experts are recommending that plantings of Grolleau be ripped out and replaced with more Gamay vines.
Bottles of Rosé d'Anjou with Cabernet d'Anjou