Amigne, first mentioned in the 17th century
Amigne is an ancient and rare Valais grape, which appeared in documents for the first time in 1686, in the “Book for work in the vines”, by the banneret (local official) of Riedmatten.
The grape appears in the accounts for harvests, along with Arvine, Humagne, Rèze, Gouais and Muscat. This exceptional document reports that on 18 September 1686 “a ½ charet of Amigne and 2 boos of Regis” [Rèze] were harvested between Granges and Noës. The first mention of Amigne is thus located between Sion and Sierre. Vétroz today is almost the only area where the grape is grown. This 17th century book also shows us that the most abundant grape harvested is Humagne, followed by Muscat and Gouais Blanc. Arvine and Amigne, little mentioned, are already rare grapes.
Source: Histoire de la Vigne et du Vin en Valais, «Premières mentions de l’Arvine et de l’Amigne au XVIIe siècle», José Vouillamoz, ampelographer.
http://www.museeduvin-valais.ch/fr/histoire-du-vin/histoire-des-cepages/119-malvoisie
Malvoisie, Pinot Gris: sweet origins
Malvoisie takes its name from Malvasia, a group of Italian grape varieties used to make sweet wines. The name is used for Malvasia Bianca from Piedmont, as well as for Malvasia di Candia de Madeira, neither of which have any real link.
Read more
And thus Malvoisie gave its name, wrongly, to several different grape varieties, all of them grapes that tend to give sweet wines: Pinot Gris in Valais, the Val d’Aosta in Italy and Val de Loire in France, as well as Vermentino in Corsica, Savagnin Blanc in Tyrol, etc.
Malvoisie appears for the first time in writing in Valais in a recipe book edited between 1671 and 1698. It’s not easy to work out which grape variety(ies) are hiding behind this name. In 1869 Zurich chemist Kohler established for the first time the common identity shared by Malvoisie from Valais and Pinot Gris.
Pinot Gris is a colour mutation from Pinot Noir, known in Burgundy from the Middle Ages as Fromenteau. The name Pinot Gris was first used in 1783-1784 in the vineyards of the Côte d’Or in Burgundy (Rézeau, 1997).
Source: Histoire de la Vigne et du Vin en Valais, «Malvoisie, un nom galvaudé», José Vouillamoz, ampelographer.