Picapoll blanc del Bages

A white grape known in the Bages for centuries, distinct from the Picapoll blanc of Xixona. The earliest reference is by Eiximenis (1381-1386), and in the mid-16th century the inventory of the monastery of Sant Benet de Bages already lists «claret de picapoll», proof that a specific wine was made from it. 19th-century descriptions show it small and very sweet —«small-berried, very smooth-skinned», according to a Sant Sadurní grower in 1880; must of up to 15.5° density, according to the Vallès agricultural report (1874)— and late-ripening, so it was best planted in the warmest spot (Navarro Mas, 1797). It served as a table and hanging grape, and for highly prized white and rancio wines. In 1889-90 it was the only notable white variety in the Bages and the only one used there to make white wine; in Artés, because of the terrain, it was more productive, with larger berries than elsewhere, and the «vi d'Artés» arose from it, making the vine an emblem of the DO Pla de Bages. Old sources identify it with albillo (Labèrnia, 1840) and, in Valencia, with «Mari Sancho» (Mir, 1898); the authors question its equivalence with verdil, proposed by Favà. Notes històriques», Dossiers Agraris ICEA 9 (2006).

Source: Ferrer i Alòs and Plans i Maestra, «El picapoll a Catalunya i el Bages.