Folle Blanche

**Folle Blanche** is a white grape from France, historically important in both the Loire and Gascony as a base for brandy. It once underpinned much of Cognac and Armagnac before phylloxera pushed growers toward hardier alternatives. **In the glass** — it gives pale, lean wine with racing acidity, restrained citrus and green-apple fruit and a distinctly bracing, almost austere character. **Where it grows** — around Nantes at the mouth of the Loire it makes the crisp, tart white Gros Plant du Pays Nantais, a classic partner to the local shellfish; in Gascony it still feeds Armagnac stills. It appears only sparingly elsewhere. **At the table** — its sharp freshness is tailor-made for oysters, mussels and other briny seafood. **Cellaring** — best drunk young and cold, while its zippy acidity is at its liveliest.

Wines

• Gros Plant du Pays Nantais — Famille Lieubeau
• Gros Plant du Pays Nantais — Gaston Rolandeau
• Secrets de Colignac — Colignac