Labels:
White Wine
Crouchen (kru-shen) is a French variety which has now practically disappeared from France. It is still a recommended variety in the south-west near the Pyrenees and appears on the list of varieties which can be used in the wines of Bearn. Crouchen was used in the excellent ‘vin de sable’ produced near Capbreton before the afforestation of the Landes displaced the vineyards during the twentieth century. The name used there for the variety, Sable Blanc, may well correspond with the ‘Sales Blanc’ introduced into New South Wales by James Busby in 1832. The variety now seems to be grown only in South Africa and Australia. In South Africa it came to be called Riesling, and seems to have been introduced from there to the Adelaide area as Riesling. It spread from there to the Clare and Riverland areas before the mistaken identity was discovered. It was then called Clare Riesling, until finally identified as Crouchen. It was also brought into the Barossa Valley, where it was mis-identified as Semillon, and taken from there to the Sunraysia area as Semillon before it was identified as Clare Riesling.
