The white grape variety originates from Romania. Synonyms are Bucium de Poamă Galbenă, Calaboura, Canina, Durleasca, Flenkisha, Galabura, Galbenă di Căpătanu, Galbenă Grasă, Galbenâ d'Odobechti, Galbenă Uriașă, Galbina, Galbina Bătută, Galbina de Odobeshti, Galbina Ureash, Ghihara, Kanina, Malvoisie du Roussillon, Narancsszölö, Poamă Galbenă, Poma Qalbina, Sghigardă Albă, Sgigardă di Gush, Sgigardă Verde, Tirba Biala, Turba Plotnaia Belaia, Turba Plotnaya and Turba Plotnaya Belaya. It must not be confused with the varieties Berbecel, Cabasma Alb ă (Durleasca, Sghigardă Albă) or Orange Grape, despite seemingly indicating synonyms or morphological similarities. There are the three somatic mutations with other berry colours Galbenâ Aurie (golden yellow), Galbenâ Mâruntâ (light yellow) and Galbenâ Verde = Cruciulita (yellow-green). It is possible that the variety Zghihară de Husi is a selection or also a mutated variety.
The late-ripening vine is very susceptible to botrytis and both types of mildew, sensitive to drought, but resistant to frost down to minus 18 °Celsius. It usually yields low-alcohol, low-acid white wines for rather quick consumption. In the communist era, it was used to produce mass-produced wines for quick consumption, but nowadays quality is being reconsidered. The variety is mainly cultivated in the Moldava region in the Odobesti area. The area under cultivation in 2016 was 417 hectares with an upward trend (Kym Anderson statistics).
Source: Wine Grapes / J. Robinson, J. Harding, J. Vouillamoz / Penguin Books Ltd. 2012
Images: Ursula Brühl, Doris Schneider, Julius Kühn-Institut (JKI)
