🍇 Doux d'Henry

Doux d'Henry is a dark-skinned wine and table grape from Italy. In the VIVC catalogue it is listed under the prime name Doux D'henri, and the name Doux d'Henry is among its synonyms.

According to DNA markers recorded in VIVC, one of its parents is Moissan; the other is unknown.

Italy's National Register of Grapevine Varieties lists it under code 75, admitted on 25 May 1970. The register lists the variety as permitted in 1 DOC wines, among them Pinerolese.

According to VIVC, it covered 28 ha in Italy (2000). Samples of the variety are kept in 4 collections. Its flowers are female. The variety is registered in the European catalogue of varieties.

Why it matters to you. VIVC lists 6 synonyms for it, among them Doun D'henry, Doux D'enry and Gros D'henry, so the same grape can turn up under other names. If a grape is named on the label of an EU wine, it makes up at least 85% of that wine.

Doux d'Henry sounds French, but the vine is Italian: nothing supports a French origin. Italy's national vine database classes it as Vitis vinifera subsp. vinifera, not a hybrid. Only about 9 ha are left, scattered across the country, and the largest share, 42%, is in Piemonte. Pinerolese DOC is the only denomination that lists it, and there it is the majority component of the wine.