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Bacchus

Bacchus is a white wine grape that was created by viticulturalist Peter Morio at the Geilweilerhof Institute for Grape Breeding in the Palatinate in 1933. He crossed a Silvaner x Riesling cross with Müller-Thurgau. Bacchus received varietal protection and was released for general cultivation in 1972. Its name is taken from Roman name of the Greek wine god Dionysus.

Bacchus can reach high must weights, and has no major requirements from the sites in which it can be planted. It can therefore be used where Riesling, for example, does not ripen reliably. It ripens early, about the same time as Müller-Thurgau, and has a high productivity similar to that variety.

Bacchus wines can have powerful flavours and character, which have even been described as "exuberant", but only if it is allowed to ripen fully. It is however low in acidity, which does not always make it very well suited for monovarietal wines under typical German growing conditions. Among the new breeds, it is considered to give less elegant wines than Kerner. Therefore, Bacchus is often used for blending into Müller-Thurgau, to give the latter more flavour. Within Germany, Franconia is considered as the source of some of the more successful monovarietal Bacchus wines.

Bacchus is also grown in England. Under British growing conditions, where the colder climate means that a higher acidity is retained and where only lower yields are possible, Bacchus can give single variety wines of reasonable quality, somewhat in a Sauvignon Blanc-like style.

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