Crouchen

Crouchen or Cruchen, white grape variety producing neutral wines in both South Africa and Australia. It originated in the western Pyrenees of France but is no longer grown there in any quantity, thanks to its sensitivity to fungal diseases. There are records of its shipment to Clare Valley in south australia in 1850 and for long it was confused with Semillon, which Australians were wont to call Riesling. It was therefore known principally as Clare Riesling in Australia until 1976, when ampelographer Paul Truel identified it as this relatively obscure French variety. Just over 100 ha/250 acres remained in 2012. The South Africans finally started to name their Crouchen correctly rather than calling it Cape Riesling just as it virtually disappeared from their vineyard statistics.