Burgundy plants eight disease-resistant grape candidates in Fontaines

Burgundy has planted eight experimental grape varieties derived from Chardonnay and Pinot Noir in a new trial plot in Fontaines, in the Saône-et-Loire department, opening a new stage in a long-running effort to breed vines that can better resist fungal disease without losing the region’s wine identity.

The planting is part of CEPInnov, a joint program led by the Burgundy wine committee, known as the BIVB, the Champagne committee, France’s National Research Institute for Agriculture, Food and Environment in Colmar, and the French Vine and Wine Institute. The project is based on crossbreeding Burgundy’s emblematic grapes with naturally resistant varieties. It does not use genetically modified organisms or genome editing.

The first eight candidates planted at Fontaines include three white grapes from the Chardonnay family and five red grapes from the Pinot Noir family. They were selected for resistance to downy mildew and powdery mildew, two diseases that can force repeated vineyard treatments and weigh heavily on costs. According to Vitisphere, the eight plants each carry two resistance genes for each of the two diseases, an approach intended to make resistance more durable.

The new Fontaines parcel covers 17 ares, or about 0.42 acres, and was inaugurated on September 25. Each candidate has about 100 vines in the plot. The BIVB expects roughly 40 varieties to be evaluated there over time.

The eight vines now under study are the first survivors of a much larger selection process. Crosses began in 2015 and produced about 16,000 seeds. After an initial screening, about 350 varieties were planted at Aluze, also in Burgundy’s Côte Chalonnaise, starting in 2018, with five vines for each selection. Trials there narrowed the field to the first wave now moved to Fontaines. If about 40 candidates ultimately reach the Fontaines plot, that would mean only about one in 400 of the original seeds advanced to this stage.

Researchers say disease resistance alone is not enough in Burgundy, where the central question is whether a new grape can still produce a wine that tastes recognizably Burgundian. The candidates have already been vinified in very small lots and tasted against standard Chardonnay and Pinot Noir. Marion Wimmer, project manager and plant material specialist at the BIVB, told Vitisphere that blind tastings often made it difficult to identify the control wine.

Those early micro-vinifications were based on just 5 to 10 kilograms of grapes per variety. The larger planting at Fontaines is meant to change that. With about 100 vines per candidate, the team expects to produce at least 80 kilograms of grapes per variety, enough for fuller vinifications and more robust statistical analysis. Wimmer said that larger-scale testing will also allow researchers to examine sensitivity to water stress.

That issue has become more urgent in 2026. France’s Agreste statistics service estimated on November 1 that total wine production in the Burgundy-Beaujolais basin was down 22% from 2025, with Pinot Noir especially affected by drought and high temperatures. That means the next generation of vines is being judged not only on disease resistance and flavor, but also on how it handles hotter and drier conditions.

The Fontaines parcel is also designed to meet the requirements of what French regulators call VATE, an assessment of agronomic, technological and environmental value that is required before a variety can be entered in the official catalog. The timeline remains long. Young vines need about three years before they produce, followed by three years of monitoring. Vitisphere reported that catalog registration could begin in 2032 if procedures move quickly. The BIVB has taken a more cautious view and says no variety will be available before 2035.

Even if the grapes clear those hurdles, they would not displace Chardonnay or Pinot Noir in Burgundy appellations. Under current rules, they could only be used as accessory grapes under an adaptation framework for varieties of interest, and only by appellations that choose to test them. Their share in a blend would be capped at 10%.

That limit reflects the balance Burgundy is trying to strike. The project is not aimed at remaking the region’s wines, but at finding a practical way to reduce dependence on fungicide sprays while keeping the style that defines some of the world’s best-known wine appellations. For the broader beverage industry, that could matter well beyond Burgundy if it shows that disease-resistant breeding can cut treatment needs and costs without erasing the character that drives value in premium wine.

Champagne is pursuing the same work on its own material through a separate evaluation plot at the Plumecoq experimental estate in Chouilly, in the Marne department. The Burgundy and Champagne programs are advancing in parallel as French wine regions look for ways to adapt to disease pressure and climate stress without giving up the grape identities on which their markets are built.