The red grape variety probably originates from Austria. There are around 40 Synonym, the most important grouped alphabetically by countries are Saint Laurent, Black Lorenz grape, Black (Germany); Saint Laurent (France); Blue St. Laurent, Laurenz grape, Saint Laurent, Saint-Lorentz, Saint Laurent (Austria); Svätovavrinecké (Slovakia); Lovricanka, Lovrijenac, Sentlovrenka (Slovenia); Svatovavřinecké, Vavrinak, Vavřinecké (Czech Republic).
The place St. Laurent in Médoc has no connection, as the ampelographer Victor Vermorel Victor (1848-1927) suspected. Presumably, St. Laurent is derived from St. Laurentius and its feast day on August 10 and refers to the Ripening. The nursery Baumann in the Alsatian Bollwiller introduced the variety from Austria in the early 19th century in Alsace. The German wine pioneer Johann Philipp Bronner Johann (1792-1864) brought it from France to Germany in the mid-19th century. Therefore, Alsace is also mentioned as a possible origin.
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