Colombard
Colombard is a
variety of
grape, better known as
French Colombard in
North America. Old vine grapes are crushed by some northern
Californian producers and made into a fruity white
wine of interesting character in both dry and sweet versions. This grape is mainly grown in California to provide backbone, due to its natural acidic character, for white "jug" wine blends. It is still grown in South West
France where it is used for white wine blends in certain
Bordeaux and
Gascony AOC's and is also used for distilling into
brandy. It is also widely grown in
South Africa.