The Black Crazy One of Toulouse

There is something defiant about a grape variety that goes by the name of «Folle Noire». It is what the old farmers in this corner of southwest France used to call Négrette, a temperamental and demanding variety that grows only here, between the Garonne and the Tarn, half an hour's drive from Toulouse. «Black Crazy One» because it is susceptible to every fungal disease imaginable, because it refuses high yields, because it demands constant attention. Yet when it decides to cooperate, it produces wines that exist nowhere else: reds as deep as ink, with a scent of violets that seems designed expressly to please the people of Toulouse.

This is no coincidence. The violet is the emblematic flower of Toulouse, introduced by Napoleon III in the mid-nineteenth century and now so embedded in the city's identity that it merits an annual festival in Place du Capitole. That Négrette should express precisely those floral notes is one of those tricks of nature that locals prefer to call destiny. The aroma comes from beta-ionone, a molecule present at unusually high concentrations in Fronton grapes. Scientists explain it in chemical terms; winemakers prefer to speak of vocation.

Legend holds that the variety was brought from Cyprus by the Knights Hospitaller of Saint John of Jerusalem in the twelfth century, when the Order founded the town of Fronton and developed vineyards on the hills overlooking the Tarn valley. The romantic version tells of crusaders returning with vine cuttings tied to their saddles. Science tells a different story: recent genetic testing suggests that Négrette is more likely an indigenous variety, descended from crossings between local and Mediterranean vines. The presence of the Knights is documented, but the grape was probably already there before them. No matter: both versions agree that this variety and this territory are inseparable. Some 96 percent of the Négrette planted in France grows here, across 2,400 hectares spread over twenty communes between Haute-Garonne and Tarn-et-Garonne.

The terroir is layered like a geological cake. Three ancient terraces rise in succession on the left bank of the Tarn: the highest and most distant, at around 200 metres above sea level, is the most gravelly; the lowest, closer to the river, is rich in boulbène, that mixture of pebbles, gravel, sand and silt that locals consider the secret of their wines. Poor, acidic soils without limestone force roots to dig deep and lend the wines that nervous minerality which sets them apart. The climate is not strictly Mediterranean: it benefits from oceanic influences, with over 2,000 hours of sunshine per year and scarce, irregular rainfall. The Autan wind, especially in autumn, keeps the vineyards healthy and encourages ripening.

The appellation gained AOC status in 1975, having previously been divided into two separate VDQS designations: Fronton and Villaudric. A history of local rivalries dating back at least to 1621, when during the siege of Montauban Louis XIII and Richelieu, quartered in the two different towns, exchanged gifts of their respective local wines. For centuries, however, the reds of this area lived in the shadow of their Bordeaux cousins. Before the eighteenth century, wine from Fronton passing through the port of Bordeaux bound for foreign markets was heavily taxed. By the time prices became competitive, it was too late: Bordeaux had conquered the world.

Today Fronton seeks its revenge by focusing on what no one else has: Négrette. The appellation rules require it to be the majority variety (at least 50% in the blend). The other permitted varieties – Syrah, Cabernet Franc, Cabernet Sauvignon, Malbec, Fer Servadou, Gamay – are there to complement, not dominate. Single-variety cuvées were authorised only in the 2010s, and today 100 percent Négrette bottlings have become the appellation's standard-bearers.

The most significant change arrived in 2019 with the creation of the Collectif Négrette, a group of around fifteen winemakers determined to prove that Fronton reds can compete with France's great appellations. The specifications they have imposed on themselves are exacting: at least 70 percent Négrette in blends, yields capped at 35 hectolitres per hectare (against the 60 permitted by the AOC), mandatory organic or HVE3 certification, parcel selection, and a minimum of 14 months' ageing. «We had an inferiority complex,» admits Benjamin Piccoli, director of the growers' syndicate. «Today we sell premium cuvées at between 15 and 20 euros. The bet has paid off.»

Among the protagonists of this revival is the Ribes family at Domaine Le Roc. Jean-Luc took over the estate in 1981 with an idea then considered eccentric: allowing grass to grow between the rows. Forty years later, he is regarded as a pioneer of cover cropping. Today the third generation is in charge: Anne, Frédéric's daughter, and her cousin Grégoire have created together the cuvée Les Petits Cailloux, «the little pebbles», a tribute to the gravelly soils that give their wines backbone. The flock of fifty sheep grazing among the vines is not folklore: they cut the grass and fertilise the soil. La Folle Noire d'Ambat, a 100 percent Négrette from a single parcel rich in rougets – small iron-rich pebbles – has become something of a cult among enthusiasts seeking wines off the beaten track. Jean-Luc, who besides making wine plays the blues and sings Brassens, likes to say that wines from the Southwest only reveal themselves at table. It is not an empty phrase: try his Folle Noire with a Toulouse cassoulet.

A few kilometres away, Marc Penavayre at Château Plaisance represents the other soul of the Fronton renaissance: organic conversion completed, spontaneous fermentations with indigenous yeasts, wines neither filtered nor fined. His son Thibaut is already working alongside him. The Penavayres are among the veterans of the Collectif Négrette, but they are not alone. A new generation of winemakers is arriving: Maxime Touzet has taken over Château La Loge, Marie Couderc has revived Château des Peyraux, Nicholas Smith – a former English drummer turned vigneron – brings a British touch to Négrette at his Bois de Devès. Today nearly 40 percent of Fronton estates are organic or in conversion, making the appellation the most committed in Southwest France to ecological transition.

There is another story to tell: that of Bouysselet, an indigenous white variety that had virtually disappeared by the 1970s. Around a dozen years ago Diane and Philippe Cauvin of Domaine de la Colombière rediscovered and replanted it. Today several producers cultivate it, and Frédéric Ribes, in his role as president of the syndicate, is working to have it officially recognised as an AOC variety. It would be the first white Fronton, with an indigenous grape. Another small revolution.

In 2025 the appellation celebrated its fiftieth anniversary. In Paris and Toulouse, at blind tastings organised by the Collectif Négrette, wine merchants and starred restaurateurs continue to be surprised by these reds they did not know or had underestimated. «Even modest appellations can produce great wines,» says Anne Ribes. It is a statement that sounds like a manifesto. In the bistros of Toulouse, meanwhile, Fronton continues to be what it has always been: the wine of the Toulousains. Only now, someone is finally starting to notice elsewhere.