Magdeleine Noire des Charentes
Charente, France
A red grape variety that survives today mainly in ampelographic collections, identified through DNA analysis as a parent of both Merlot and Malbec.
Sensory profile
Characteristics
Flavor & aroma
At a glance
Production facts
Prevalence
Rare
Climate
Moderate climate
Ripening
Mid season
Wine styles
Still
Where it's grown
Geography
Shaded areas are the state, province or département(s) containing each region, so they run wider than the appellations themselves.
France
Charente
Survives only in ampelographic conservatory collections, not commercial production.
Background
Origin & History
Magdeleine Noire des Charentes takes its name from the Charente region of western France, an area now far better known for Cognac than for wine. The variety itself is functionally extinct in commercial viticulture, surviving today only in the conservatory vine collections that ampelographers use to preserve genetic diversity.
Its quiet importance was uncovered through DNA analysis: a 2009 study led by Jean-Michel Boursiquot identified it, alongside Cabernet Franc, as a parent of Merlot, and the same study identified it, alongside Prunelard, as a parent of Malbec as well — making this all-but-vanished grape a pivotal ancestor of two of Bordeaux's most important red varieties.
Lineage
Family tree
Parentage not recorded — Magdeleine Noire des Charentes is an old variety of unknown origin. Click a related grape to explore its own lineage.