{"id":736,"date":"2015-11-24T13:53:44","date_gmt":"2015-11-24T13:53:44","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/belletwine.com\/?p=736"},"modified":"2015-11-24T13:53:44","modified_gmt":"2015-11-24T13:53:44","slug":"framboise-the-traditional-grape-of-nice","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/belletwine.com\/?p=736","title":{"rendered":"Framboise, the traditional grape of Nice?"},"content":{"rendered":"
\"Traditional<\/a>
Traditional Nicoises<\/em> with vine<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

In 2010 a Ni\u00e7ois <\/a><\/em>manifesto<\/a> was written encouraging people in the area around Nice to replant a grape variety known as framboise<\/em>, claiming it was part of Ni\u00e7ois<\/em> tradition, and a symbol of local identity.<\/p>\n

\u201cSi vous avez dans vos relations quelques vieilles familles ni\u00e7oises qui ont particip\u00e9 \u00e0 cet acte de r\u00e9sistance et que vous disposez d\u2019un bout de terrain; n\u2019h\u00e9sitez pas plantez vous aussi une treille de raisin framboise; c\u2019est un acte de r\u00e9sistance qui conforte notre identit\u00e9 nissarde et qui en plus vous apportera beaucoup de plaisir gustatif. Sans parler du plaisir d\u2019emmerder les autorit\u00e9s de la puissance occupante.\u201d<\/em><\/p>\n

The website Gralon<\/a>\u00a0describes the variety as being azur\u00e9en typique<\/em> (typical of the C\u00f4te d\u2019Azur), while a wine thread on a forum website<\/a>\u00a0includes a thread where people are searching about the variety framboise<\/em> \u2013 with memories of childhood delight in eating the juicy fruit and asking for, or offering, cuttings.<\/p>\n

This variety has never, as far as I can establish been included in the wines of Bellet, so I was intrigued to discover more about this variety which is so highly regarded in the region.<\/p>\n

Bellet has always been the largest and best known wine producing region around Nice, but, before the arrival of phylloxera, many more hills and valleys in the County of Nice produced wine. These ranged in style from strong red wines, light red, white, sparkling and sweet wines near the coast, to lighter and more acidic wines from villages higher up and further inland.<\/p>\n

\"Framboise<\/a>
Framboise ripening at 1000m in St Martin V\u00e9subie<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

The wines of the Haut Pays and the higher valleys, including those of the Roya, V\u00e9subie, Tin\u00e9e and the upper Var, before phylloxera, were generally regarded as poor in quality. Foder\u00e9, in 1821, noted that the grapes rarely ripened sufficiently; the white wines were more thin and acidic than the wines of Alsace, and were made drinkable only by blending with red wine from Provence, although the grapes were delicious as table grapes \u2013 very sweet with good acidity. Much of the wine was distilled.<\/p>\n

Along the coast the grapes were harvested in September, further inland, at higher altitude, not all ripened by late October, and the harvest was often not until early November, similar to those in north and north-west France.\u00a0The sunnier, exposed slopes of Rimplas in Valdeblore were able to produce a more generous wine.[1]<\/a><\/p>\n

\"Rimplas<\/a>
Rimplas in 1906 with south facing terraces<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

Phylloxera arrived in Provence in 1863, one of the first regions to be infected in France. But it was not until the 1890s that grape growers in the Alpes Maritimes were offered American rootstocks<\/a> (largely immune to the ravages of the phylloxera louse) for replanting their vines. Isabella<\/a>, an old American variety, probably descended from the of a wild native vine Vitis labrusca<\/em> and another, unknown variety, was one of several different rootstocks, but was found to be less successful than other American varieties in protecting the European vines from phylloxera .<\/p>\n

Over the years 1894 to 1897, grape growers throughout the Alpes Maritimes applied for various American rootstocks and different Vitis vinifera<\/em> varieties to be grafted on to the rootstocks. They were not always given the quantities or varieties they wanted, resulting in a very different viticultural profile of the region. Villages which received fewer vines than requested slowly made less wine, and many chose not to replant but instead turned to the lucrative business of growing flowers under glass for the society winter season along the Cote d\u2019Azur and for exporting to northern Europe during the winter. The hills around Nice started to shimmer with greenhouses.<\/p>\n

\"Greenhouses<\/a>
Greenhouses for flowers opposite Domaine Toasc<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

Despite its poor performance as a rootstock to protect against phylloxera, Isabella, or framboise<\/em>\u00a0as it was to become known locally, became popular for its dark red grapes. Its sweet, raspberry-strawberry fruit flavour, albeit tinged with a distinctive \u2018foxy\u2019,\u00a0musky, almost animal-like character, made it a popular grape for eating fresh, for wine, eau-de-vie and jams, and is reflected in some of its local names in Italy, Corsica and south eastern France: Fragola<\/em>, Framboisier<\/em> or Framboise<\/em>. Framboise<\/em>\u2019s ability to flourish in both the hot summers of southern France and the cold winters of the sub-alpine villages behind Nice, added to its attraction. Its high sugar and alcohol levels when mature made for a heady wine which never needed chaptalisation.<\/p>\n

Its success was short lived. On 24th<\/sup> January 1935, a law was introduced by the senator Emile Cassez<\/a>, of the Haute Marne and Minister of Agriculture, to ban the planting American vines (framboise<\/em>, clinton<\/em> herbemont<\/em>, jacquet<\/em>, noah<\/em> and othello<\/em>). The reason given for banning these were that they produce a higher level of methanol<\/a>, due to greater amounts of skin pectins, which could apparently lead to madness. There was also concern that if allowed, including these in classic French wines would alter the traditional taste.<\/p>\n

\"Framboise<\/a>
Framboise vine used on a trellis for shade<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

By the 1950s, any remaining American vines were compulsorily grubbed up, with compensation, although three vines were allowed per household, for domestic use. Many took cuttings and hid them, only to replant vines illegally after the inspectors left. These vines, unlike European vines, did not need grafting onto rootstocks and could easily be propagated with cuttings \u2013 so that nurserymen (p\u00e9pinieres<\/em>) were not needed to do the grafting.<\/p>\n

The 2010 Ni\u00e7ois<\/em> manifesto claimed that it had been banned under a false pretext with no medical or scientific paper proving that drinking framboise<\/em> wine led to madness. The writer went on to claim that the main reason for banning framboise<\/em> was that Cassez had personal and substantial interests in the wine trade in Algeria and that his business, supplying strong alcoholic red wine for bolstering up weaker French wines, was being undermined by the use of wine made from framboise<\/em> for blending.<\/p>\n

\"Framboise<\/a>
Framboise as table grapes<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

In 2003 the law against planting these vines was lifted. Today, many houses in the arri\u00e8re pays<\/em> behind the appellation of Bellet, have framboise<\/em> vines in their gardens, often grown over a pergola for shade, sometimes in a short row in a garden for eating. Many people make a sweet jelly with the fruit, although I find the foxy flavour dominates the fresh raspberry acidity, and prefer, English style, to add vinegar to mask the foxiness and to serve it as a savoury relish.<\/p>\n

[1]<\/a>\u00a0Fod\u00e9r\u00e9 \u2018Voyage aux Alpes Maritimes\u2019 (1821); Thevenon, Luc monograph \u2018Vignobles de la Montagne Ni\u00e7oise\u2019;\u00a0Durante, Louis \u2018Chorographie de Comt\u00e9 de Nice\u2019 (Turin 1847)<\/p>\n

<\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

In 2010 a Ni\u00e7ois manifesto was written encouraging people in the area around Nice to replant a grape variety known as framboise, claiming it was part of Ni\u00e7ois tradition, and a symbol of local identity. \u201cSi vous avez dans vos relations quelques vieilles familles ni\u00e7oises qui ont particip\u00e9 \u00e0 cet acte de r\u00e9sistance et que […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[1],"tags":[18,19,21,23,29],"class_list":["post-736","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-uncategorized","tag-framboise","tag-methanol","tag-nice","tag-phylloxera","tag-vitis-labrusca"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/belletwine.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/736","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/belletwine.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/belletwine.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/belletwine.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/belletwine.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=736"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/belletwine.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/736\/revisions"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/belletwine.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=736"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/belletwine.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=736"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/belletwine.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=736"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}