Life Style / Wine Grapes / Colombard: Better known as French Colombard in North America. The grapes from old vines are crushed by some northern Californian producers and made into a fruity white wine of interesting character in both dry and sweet versions. Otherwise mainly grown in California to provide backbone, due to its natural acidic character, for white 'jug' wine blends. Still grown in S.W France where it is used for white wine blends in certain Bordeaux and Gascony AOC's and is also used for distilling into brandy. Also widely grown in South Africa. A recent DNA check by the U.C. Davis team in California demonstrated that this variety possibly resulted from a cross of Gouais Blanc x Chenin Blanc.
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