Grape help

When in France in late Sept years ago, we had the most wonderful grapes....the vendors called them simply italian grapes and they were long golden ovals, sweeter than candy with a heady aroma different than Gewertzraminer grapes but in the general neighborhood...anyone have any idea?

Now I own a house in a place where I might actually be able to grow these grapes and I have no idea what kind of grape this is...

Would there be a better list to post this question?

Thanks for any help you can give me.

Laurie in Silicon Valley, CA

Unfortunately there are lots of "Italian grapes", that name wouldn't likely refer specifically to one type of grape, but really just tells you that it's a grape that is grown in Italy. I guess for starters, was it a wine grape or a table grape?

Here's a reference on Italian wine grapes: http://www.wine-searcher.com/dartmouth/home.html

However, unless it's a wine grape that's also grown in CA or it's a table grape that's commonly grown here, you may have trouble finding one even if you do figure out which one it is. And even if you find it, the flavor may not be the same if you grow it here, differences in soil and climate can impact the flavor so you may be better off checking local nurseries for varieties that do well near you and try one of them instead--I can tell you from experience that home-grown grapes taste much better than store-bought, even if they're the same variety (I had 'Flame' at my old house, it's the common red table grape that you find everywhere in grocery stores, and the ones off my vine always tasted better...although to be honest the birds usually got most of them before I could sneak a taste!).