Although the white grape variety Auxerrois shares a spelling similar to the town of Auxerre in Burgundy, the origin of Auxerrois is unknown. Even its very pronunciation is up for grabs.

We’ve always said oh-zher-WAH, placing the accent on the last syllable, as is common in French, and not sounding out the “x.” Yet, OregonWines.com lists the pronunciation as OAKS-er-rwah and then we’ve also come across awk-sehr-WAH.

Besides pronunciation confusion, there’s uncertainty about the name. In the Cahors region of France, Malbec, a red variety, is sometimes called Auxerrois; elsewhere in some French villages, Chardonnay is called Auxerrois Blanc; and Pinot Gris is sometimes called Auxerrois Gris. Although not very common now, Edelswicker is an Alsace region blend that has Auxerrois as a component. More times than not, Pinot Blanc from Alsace contains a fraction of Auxerrois that is used to add body to the overall blend.

In the Leelanau Peninsula AVA of northwest Michigan’s lower peninsula, Auxerrois stands on its own as a 100 percent varietal. Both Charlie Edson, owner/winemaker at Bel Lago Vineyards & Winery, and owner/winemaker Dan Matthies of Chateau Fontaine Vineyard & Winery have made award-winning bottlings of Auxerrois. Because he believes that consumers should know, right out of the gate, what the grape variety is, Edson labels it varietally, but Matthies gives it the proprietary name Woodland White, because he believes it’s easier to market.