Baco blanc or Baco 22A is a French-American hybrid grape variety. It is a cross of Folle blanche and the Noah grape, created in 1898 by the grape breeder François Baco.
Baco blanc was developed to produce some of the same flavors as Folle blanche but without the susceptibility to American grape disease and phylloxera. In the 20th century it was widely planted in the Gascony region for uses in brandy production. Both Armagnac and Cognac (from the Charentes and Charente-Maritime districts north of Gascony) are brandies made from white grapes – Ugni blanc, Folle blanche and Colombard – but only Armagnac was permitted under French regulations to use Baco blanc and until the late 1970s, Baco blanc was the primary grape of Armagnac.
Following the grape's decline in the late 20th century, there was some speculation about the future of the variety, especially after a 1992 Institut National des Appellations d'Origine (INAO) decree that all vines of Baco blanc were to be uprooted by 2010. However, advocates for the grape variety and its historical role in Armagnac were able to persuade French authorities to continue permitting its use in the distilled wines from the Armagnac region.
History and parentage
thumb|left|François Baco, the breeder of Baco blanc. Baco blanc was bred in 1898 by French grape breeder François Baco from a crossing of the Vitis vinifera Folle blanche, which was having difficulties taking to the rootstock grafting after the phylloxera epidemic of the mid to late 19th century, and the American hybrid grape Noah (itself a previously crossing of an unknown Vitis labrusca species and the Vitis riparia grape Taylor. Four years earlier François Baco had used Folle blanche and an unknown species of Vitis riparia to produce a dark skin version of Baco blanc known as Baco noir.
Prior to Baco noir's development, Folle blanche was the primarily grape variety for the eau de vie grape brandies produced in the Cognac and Armagnac regions of France. But, in addition to its difficulties with the new American rootstock, the grape was highly susceptible to several grape diseases including grey rot in the Cognac region and black rot in Armagnac. The aim of François Baco was to produce a grape that had many of the neutral flavors and characteristics which made Folle blanche favorable for distillation but without the susceptibility that had plagued Folle Blanche growers. While growers in the Cognac region began adopting Ugni blanc (the same grape known in Italy as Trebbiano), growers in the Armagnac region began to enthusiastically plant Baco's new white hybrid.