Log in

Bastardo (Trousseau Noir, Tressot) is an old variety of red wine grape. It is grown in small amounts in many parts of Western Europe; most famously it is used in Portuguese port wine. It makes deep cherry red wines with high alcohol and flavours of red berry fruits.

DNA fingerprinting has shown that this port grape is the result of a cross between Petit verdot and Duras, a traditional French grape currently found only in the Tarn valley northeast of Toulouse. Petit verdot is one of the classic grapes of Bordeaux, although it probably originated further south. So the current distribution of the parents suggests that Bastardo was born somewhere in SW France, if not on the banks of the Tarn itself.
Trousseau Gris is a white mutation, occasionally found in Jura and once common in California under the name 'Gray Riesling'.
Genouillet is the result of a cross between Gouais Blanc (Heunisch) and Bastardo.

In 1938 Harold Olmo used Trousseau to pollinate the rupestris hybrid Alicante Ganzin to produce the Royalty variety.
Bastardo was crossed with the Georgian variety Saperavi to produce the Bastardo Magarachskii variety used in the Crimea.