Vidal, white grape variety and a french hybrid more properly known as Vidal Blanc or Vidal 256 and widely grown in canada, where it is particularly valued for its winter hardiness. Grown to a limited extent in the Midwest and eastern united states, particularly new york state, it is a hybrid of ugni blanc and one of the Seibel parents of seyval blanc. The wine produced, like Seyval’s, has no obviously foxy character and can smell attractively of currant bushes or leaves. Its slow, steady ripening and thick skins make it particularly suitable for sweet, late-harvest (non-botrytized) wines and icewine, for which it, with riesling, is famous in Canada. Vidal-based wines do not have the longevity of fine Rieslings, however.
