Musqué is a French

French language

French is a Romance language spoken as a first language in France, the Romandy region in Switzerland, Wallonia and Brussels in Belgium, Monaco, the regions of Quebec and Acadia in Canada, and by various communities elsewhere. Second-language speakers of French are distributed throughout many parts...

 term applied to certain varieties or clones of grape

Grape

A grape is a non-climacteric fruit, specifically a berry, that grows on the perennial and deciduous woody vines of the genus Vitis. Grapes can be eaten raw or they can be used for making jam, juice, jelly, vinegar, wine, grape seed extracts, raisins, molasses and grape seed oil. Grapes are also...

s used for making wine

Wine

Wine is an alcoholic beverage, made of fermented fruit juice, usually from grapes. The natural chemical balance of grapes lets them ferment without the addition of sugars, acids, enzymes, or other nutrients. Grape wine is produced by fermenting crushed grapes using various types of yeast. Yeast...

. The term means both perfumed ("musk

Musk

Musk is a class of aromatic substances commonly used as base notes in perfumery. They include glandular secretions from animals such as the musk deer, numerous plants emitting similar fragrances, and artificial substances with similar odors. Musk was a name originally given to a substance with a...

y") and Muscat

Muscat (grape and wine)

The Muscat variety of grapes of the species Vitis vinifera is widely grown for wine, raisins and table grapes. Their color ranges from white to near black. Muscat almost always has a pronounced sweet floral aroma. Muscat grapes are grown around the world...

-like, and indicates that the variety or clone is highly aromatic. The term musqué is usually suffixed to the name of certain grape varieties to indicate a clone with musqué properties, e.g. "Chardonnay

Chardonnay

Chardonnay is a green-skinned grape variety used to make white wine. It is originated from the Burgundy wine region of eastern France but is now grown wherever wine is produced, from England to New Zealand...

 musqué" or "Sauvignon blanc

Sauvignon blanc

Sauvignon Blanc is a green-skinned grape variety which originates from the Bordeaux region of France. The grape most likely gets its name from the French word sauvage and blanc due to its early origins as an indigenous grape in South West France., a possible descendant of savagnin...

 musqué". Such clones have arisen through mutation

Mutation

In molecular biology and genetics, mutations are changes in a genomic sequence: the DNA sequence of a cell's genome or the DNA or RNA sequence of a virus. They can be defined as sudden and spontaneous changes in the cell. Mutations are caused by radiation, viruses, transposons and mutagenic...

 of a regular ("non-musqué") clone of the variety, and such mutations have been recorded for several different grape varieties.

The most well-known musqué grape is Gewürztraminer

Gewürztraminer

Gewürztraminer is an aromatic wine grape variety that performs best in cooler climates. It is sometimes referred to colloquially as Gewürz, and in French it is written '...

, which is a musqué mutation of a red-skinned Traminer, which is also known as Savagnin rose

Savagnin Rose

Savagnin Rose or Roter Traminer is a variety of wine grape. It has a pink, reddish or brownish red skin colour, but is counted as a "white wine grape", since it does not have the deep purple/blue/black colour of "red wine grapes"....

 in France. Since the musqué Gewürztraminer has largely replaced non-musqué Traminer, it is generally considered a grape variety in its own right rather than a clone of Traminer or Savagnin.

The issue of whether the musqué mutations, with their distinct aromatic properties should be classified as varieties in their own right, and be allowed to be used for varietal

Varietal

"Varietal" describes wines made primarily from a single named grape variety, and which typically displays the name of that variety on the wine label. Examples of grape varieties commonly used in varietal wines are Cabernet Sauvignon, Chardonnay and Merlot...

wine labelling has created bureaucratic problems for some winemakers.