page_title: Douce noir
section_title: History and origins
hierarchical_section_title: Douce noir / History and origins
caption_attribution_description: Vineyard in the French wine region of Savoie/Savoy
context_page_description: Douce noir is a red Savoyard wine grape variety that has historically been grown in the Savoy region, but today is more widely planted in Argentina. The earliest mention of the grape dates from when Etruscans first planted Bonarda some 3.000 years ago in the Padana Region. It arrived in Savoie in the early 19th century, and by the end of the century it was the most widely grown red wine grape in the region. In the early 21st century it was discovered that the Bonarda grape, which is the 2nd most widely planted red grape, after Malbec, in Argentina was the Italian wine grape Bonarda Piemontese imported by Italian immigrants. The grape is also grown in California where it is known as Charbono.
  In California, Bonarda/Douce noir/Charbono is produced in very limited amounts with the grape having been described as a "cult wine" for its scarcity and devotion of its connoisseurs. However, growers such as Jim Summers of the Napa Valley winery Summers Estate describes the variety as "... the Rodney Dangerfield of wine" and notes that it is a hard variety to find a market for.
context_section_description: Some of the early synonyms of Douce noir, Plant de Turin and Turin, hinted that the grape have originated in the Piedmont wine region of Italy. The name Douce noir itself means "sweet black" in French which is similar to the Italian name of the Piedmont grape Dolcetto nero ("small sweet black") which further lead to the fact that Douce noir had Piedmontese origins. This hypothesis, as well as any relation with Dolcetto, would later be dispelled by DNA analysis in the 21st century and today ampelographers believe that the grape likely originated in the Savoie region of North-West of Italy.
  In Savoie, the earliest mention of the grape variety dates to a letter written on November 24, 1803 by the mayor of Saint-Pierre-d'Albigny to the prefect of Savoie describing the grape varieties growing in his commune. Other documents showed that Douce noir was also widely planted in the communes of Arbin and Montmélian and by the end of the 19th century it was the most widely planted red grape variety in Savoie.
  Douce noir was also found outside of Savoie, particularly in Jura, where the grape was known as Corbeau which means "crow" and is thought to be a reference to the inky black color of the wine that Douce noir can produce.
caption: Vineyards in Savoie where Douce noir likely originated
exif: {"Image Make": "FUJIFILM", "Image Model": "FinePix F10", "Image Orientation": "0", "Image XResolution": "72", "Image YResolution": "72", "Image ResolutionUnit": "Pixels/Inch", "Image Software": "Digital Camera FinePix F10     Ver1.01", "Image DateTime": "2006:04:12 18:34:15", "Image YCbCrPositioning": "Co-sited", "Image Copyright": "", "Image ExifOffset": "303", "Image PrintIM": "[80, 114, 105, 110, 116, 73, 77, 0, 48, 50, 53, 48, 0, 0, 2, 0, 2, 0, 1, 0, 0, 0, 1, 1, 0, 0, 0, 0]", "GPS GPSVersionID": "[0, 0, 2, 2]", "GPS GPSLatitudeRef": "N", "GPS GPSLatitude": "[45, 35, 527/10]", "GPS GPSLongitudeRef": "E", "GPS GPSLongitude": "[6, 14, 823/20]", "GPS GPSAltitudeRef": "0", "GPS GPSAltitude": "0", "Image GPSInfo": "1197", "Thumbnail Compression": "JPEG (old-style)", "Thumbnail XResolution": "72", "Thumbnail YResolution": "72", "Thumbnail ResolutionUnit": "Pixels/Inch", "Thumbnail JPEGInterchangeFormat": "1437", "Thumbnail JPEGInterchangeFormatLength": "4996", "EXIF ExposureTime": "1/240", "EXIF FNumber": "5", "EXIF ExposureProgram": "Program Normal", "EXIF ISOSpeedRatings": "80", "EXIF ExifVersion": "0220", "EXIF DateTimeOriginal": "2006:04:12 18:34:15", "EXIF DateTimeDigitized": "2006:04:12 18:34:15", "EXIF ComponentsConfiguration": "YCbCr", "EXIF CompressedBitsPerPixel": "4", "EXIF ShutterSpeedValue": "159/20", "EXIF ApertureValue": "23/5", "EXIF BrightnessValue": "809/100", "EXIF ExposureBiasValue": "0", "EXIF MaxApertureValue": "3", "EXIF MeteringMode": "Pattern", "EXIF LightSource": "Unknown", "EXIF Flash": "Flash did not fire, compulsory flash mode", "EXIF FocalLength": "24", "EXIF FlashPixVersion": "0100", "EXIF ColorSpace": "Uncalibrated", "EXIF ExifImageWidth": "2848", "EXIF ExifImageLength": "2136", "Interoperability InteroperabilityIndex": "R98", "Interoperability InteroperabilityVersion": "[48, 49, 48, 48]", "EXIF InteroperabilityOffset": "1167", "EXIF FocalPlaneXResolution": "3703", "EXIF FocalPlaneYResolution": "3703", "EXIF FocalPlaneResolutionUnit": "3", "EXIF SensingMethod": "One-chip color area", "EXIF FileSource": "Digital Camera", "EXIF SceneType": "Directly Photographed", "EXIF CustomRendered": "Normal", "EXIF ExposureMode": "Auto Exposure", "EXIF WhiteBalance": "Auto", "EXIF SceneCaptureType": "Standard", "EXIF Sharpness": "Normal", "EXIF SubjectDistanceRange": "0"}