Pierre Galet

Pierre Galet (28 January 1921 – 30 December 2019) was a French ampelographer and author who was an influential figure within ampelography in the 20th century and before DNA typing was widely introduced.

After the war, Galet would accept a teaching position at the École Nationale Supérieure Agronomique de Montpellier where from 1946-1989, he was at the forefront of advances in ampelography and was the mentor to several of the leading ampelographers of the late 20th century.

In addition to teaching, Galet traveled to wine regions in the United States, South America, Cyprus, North Africa, Asia and throughout Europe identifying grape varieties and settling legal disputes involving them.

One such occurrence happened in California in the 1980s when Galet discovered that vines labeled Pinot blanc were actually Melon de Bourgogne, a grape commonly associated with the Muscadet wines of the Loire Valley.

In 1983, he was given a prize of special recognition by the L'Office national interprofessionnel des vins (OIV), the association of French vintners, for the collective body of his work.