Souvignier gris

Souvignier gris is a white German wine grape variety that was created in 1983 by Dr. Norbert Becker. It is a cross between Seyval blanc and Zähringer, but was originally thought to be a cross between Cabernet Sauvignon and Bronner.

Souvignier gris was developed in 1983 at the viticultural research institute of Freiburg, Germany, and DNA analysis has shown it to be a cross between Seyval Blanc and Zähringer.^[1]

Souvignier gris was originally incorrectly registered as a cross between the red French wine grape variety Cabernet Sauvignon and the white German grape crossing previously created by Becker known as Bronner.^[2]

Bronner was also developed by Becker in 1975 at the viticultural research institute of Freiburg, and is a crossing of the hybrid varieties Merzling (mother vine) and Geisenheim 6494 (father vine).^[3] Geisenheim 6494 is a crossing of Zarya Severa with St. Laurent while Zähringer is a crossing between Gewürztraminer and Riesling.^[4][5]

The other supposed parent, Cabernet Sauvignon, would have made Souvignier gris a grandchild variety of the white variety Sauvignon blanc and the red variety Cabernet Franc.^[6]

As a relatively recently created grape crossing, Souvignier gris is not known under many other names with only the breeding codes FR 392-83 and Freiburg 392-83 being listed as officially recognized synonyms by the Vitis International Variety Catalogue (VIVC).^[1]