In a word, I might describe wines made from Chenin Blanc as versatile. As we discover this grape, you will find the wines to be dramatically varying in style. Chenin Blanc wines can be dry or sweet, sparkling or still. But there are some characteristics of the grape that remain constant. In Chenin Blanc wines, you will get flavors and aromas of honey, flowers, perfume, peach, apple, quince, and lemon. You will often get more earthy scents of wax, oil, limestone and musky straw, especially if the wines are from the Loire Valley. These wines will have a fairly high level of acidity and medium to high alcohol. Traditional bottlings from the Loire valley will be un-oaked, although some winemakers are moving away from tradition and beginning to use more oak on their wines (a practice that is causing some dismay for traditionalist wine lovers).
As I said earlier, these wines vary greatly in the degree of sweetness. When reading labels, use this to differentiate the degree of sweetness:
Sec: Dry
Demi-Sec: A Little Sweet
Moelleux: Pretty Darn Sweet
When matching these wines with food, Chenin Blanc will prove to be extremely versatile for you. Dry versions can be matched with anything from vegetable dishes and salads to fish and shellfish dishes with fairly rich sauces. Try it with anything from grouper, rockfish, shrimp, crab, or scallops. It can also handle poultry dishes like roasted chicken and pheasant. Richer bottlings from Vouvray or Savennieres can handle butter and cream sauces, and even things that have been seasoned with bacon, or smoked meat. Sweeter style wines can be excellent with spicy foods, so try them with Indian, Chinese or Vietnamese foods. If you’ve never tried a sweeter style wine with spicy food, you will be delighted at the combination. These bottlings also match well with bleu cheeses and goat cheeses, and can be used to pair with desserts that are not too sweet as well.
Success is in the Yield
You might wonder what makes the difference between an ordinary Chenin Blanc and an extraordinary one, and the key to extraordinary wine is the amount of grapes the winemaker yields from each vine. The fewer grapes they yield from each vine, the better quality the grapes will be and the more flavor they will produce.
Understanding yield is very important to understanding quality differences in all wine, but it is particularly relevant to growing Chenin Blanc. I would liken it to growing a rose bush. In order for the rose bush to flourish and produce abundant, beautiful roses, it is important to cut off the “deadheads”. Therefore the rose bush is giving all of its energy and nutrients to new blooms. If you leave the dead blooms on the bush, the bush will continue to try to nourish even the dead blooms.
It is the same concept with grape vines. If a particular vine has 10 bunches of grapes forming, a quality winemaker will cut off some of the bunches, maybe 5 of them. Although the vine will now yield less grapes, all of the vine’s nutrients and energy will be spent on the 5 remaining bunches. Therefore, the quality and flavor of the remaining bunches will be far superior. If the winemaker had left all 10 bunches on the vine, he would yield more grapes, but the quality of the grapes would be inferior, with less flavor and character.
Unfortunately, many of the winemakers making Chenin Blanc wines that are grown in California and South Africa choose to go for higher yields, but by doing so, they are settling for low-quality, generic wines in the end. That being said, not all of these winemakers follow this path, and we will discover some fine wines from California and South Africa this month. When you are purchasing Chenin Blanc wines on your own, the winemaker’s yield is something you should consider.
Where the Grape is Harvested
Loire Valley, France: Here you will find wines that vary in style from dry to sweet, and sparkling to still. The sweet style wines rival Sauternes in richness and longevity. Some of the dry or medium dry style wines are similar to Riesling, but will have more body and breadth. Up to 20% Chardonnay is allowed into the blend here, although the best examples are usually 100% Chenin Blanc. Within the Loire, Chenin Blanc is grown in two basic regions:
Anjou-Saumur: Here you will find incredible traditional Chenin Blanc wines. Look for bottlings from Coteaux du Layon, Coteaux de l’Aubance, Bonnezeaux, and Quarts-de-Chaume for sweeter style wines. For dryer style, wines from Savennieres are outstanding. The wines are sometimes blended with up to 20% Chardonnay. In Saumur, you will find a great deal of sparkling Chenin Blanc as well.
Touraine: Standouts in Touraine are made in Vouvray and Montlouis, and can be dry or sweet, sparkling or still. Blending is also allowed here, up to 20% Chardonnay, but they do blend in other grapes as well.
California: Chenin Blanc is produced in mass, with higher yields. Therefore the wines, for the most part, are fairly ordinary and inexpensive. There will typically be more oak used on these wines than their French counterparts.
South Africa: 1/3 of all the vines planted here are Chenin Blanc, so a large amount of wine is produced, but again the yields are often too high. These wines are typically off-dry with crisp acidity, and won’t be as rich as in Loire or California. You will find a good amount of sparkling Chenin Blanc produced here. Chenin Blanc is also used as a base wine for some fortified wines and spirits.
Other Regions: Chenin Blanc is also planted in Washington State, New Zealand, Argentina, Chile, Mexico, Brazil, Uruguay. In all of these areas, there are very few producers who are committed to making their Chenin Blanc a success
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