The Chenin Blanc renaissance?

Chenin Blanc has a very strong claim to be the world’s most versatile grape variety, successfully producing dry and demi-sec wines, all the way through to lusciously sweet, as well as sparkling – and not forgetting brandy and ‘sherry’ styles in South Africa.

The grape has the rare talent of producing some of the most sublime wines that can age for a century or more – while also being capable of making some of the most disgusting wines if picked unripe and vinified badly!

From workhorse to high quality

It can be difficult to produce high quality Chenin as it’s capable of producing large crops, making it popular as a workhorse variety, especially in South Africa and California. However, as the emphasis has increasingly been on making interesting and high-quality Chenin, world plantings have been cut by half over the last 30 years.

Scroll down to see Jim’s top picks of Chenin Blanc from the Loire and South Africa

As well as Chenin Blanc’s versatility, it has a remarkable ability to age: as mentioned above, great sweet vintages can remain magnificent for a century or more, and I have been privileged to taste several Chenins from the 19th century. And we celebrated my father’s 90th birthday in 2009 with an amazingly youthful 1919 Le Mont Moelleux Vouvray from Gaston Huet – a memorable occasion!

Chenin Blanc’s two principal regions in terms of quality are South Africa, where it is the most planted variety, and the Loire. Vincent Carême, who makes wine in both the Loire and in South Africa, says of the differences: ‘The South African climate is much more extreme – very hot and very dry. Broadly speaking, South African Chenin has more weight with an exotic fruit character, while those from the Loire are more mineral.’

Loire Chenin Blanc

Recent trends include a significant move to making dry Chenin from special sites such as the Quarts de Chaume (the Loire’s only grand cru), which have traditionally specialised in sweet wine. This is because selling sweet wines has become so difficult in the modern age.

Plantings of Chenin in the Loire are essentially confined to Anjou-Saumur and Touraine – stretching eastwards from Ingrandes-sur-Loire to around Amboise.

West of Ingrandes, Melon de Bourgogne (Muscadet) becomes the dominant variety, while Amboise is at the limit of where Chenin will ripen properly in the Loire as the climate becomes increasingly continental, causing later budbreak.

Schist and slate in Anjou tend to produce softer wines with less marked acidity than those from the clay-limestone of Saumur and Touraine.

Sparkling Chenin, especially Crémant de Loire and Saumur, dominates production, accounting for 63% of total Chenin production in the Loire, while it’s the dry and demi-sec (26%) and sweet (11%) styles which are the most renowned.

Top Loire Chenin Blanc producers:

Anjou Blanc Didier & Damien Richou, Domaine Belargus, Ogereau, Bablut

Savennières Coulée de Serrant, Damien Laureau, Eric Morgat, Domaines Ogereau, Bergerie, Domaine aux Moines, Closel, Baudouin

Saumur Clos Rougeard, Château de Villeneuve, Antoine Sanzay, Antoine Foucault, Guiberteau

Chinon Noblaie, Alliet

Montlouis Taille aux Loups, Saumon, Chidaine, Delecheneau, Weisskopf

Vouvray Huet, Foreau, François Pinon, Fouquet, Carême

Touraine-Amboise Frissant, Bessons

Sweet

Coteaux du Layon Juchepie

Bonnezeaux Château de Fesles, Les Grands Vignes, Petit Val

Quarts de Chaume Grand Cru & Coteaux du Layon 1er Cru Chaume Pierre-Bise, Suronde, Bergerie

Coteaux de l’Aubance Bablut, Montgilet, Rochelles

South African Chenin Blanc

South African plantings are more widely spread, ranging from Stellenbosch northwards to Olifants River and eastwards to Klein Karoo.

In South Africa, site is becoming increasingly important, as is the recognition of old bush-vine Chenin as a treasured heritage.

Top South Africa Chenin Blanc producers:

Elgin Illimis

Paarl Glen Carlou, KWV, Nederburg

Stellenbosch Botanica, Ken Forrester, Kleine Zalze, Mulderbosch, Raats, Radford Dale, Spier

Swartland AA Badenhorst, Craig Hawkins, Mullineux, Painted Wolf

Walker Bay Beaumont

Wellington Bosman, Painted Wolf

Chenin Blanc renaissance: Loire & South Africa

Awareness

The first International Chenin Blanc Conference was held in Angers from 1 to 3 July. A major aim of this conference is to raise the profile and appreciation of Chenin which, because of its past reputation as a workhorse grape, means that it does not have the same repute as Chardonnay or Cabernet Sauvignon, for example.

But it’s clear that the variety has history, its own unique characteristics, is adaptable to climate change, and can be very long-lived.

The next edition of the conference will be held in 2021 in Cape Town.

Chenin Blanc at a glance:

World total 35,000ha

South Africa 17,242ha (53% of production)

Olifants River: 2,821; Breederkloof: 2,796; Paarl: 2,743; Swartland: 2553; Worcester: 1,860; Robertson: 1,546, Stellenbosch: 1,344; Northern Cape: 1,038

Loire 9,700ha (28% of production)

Anjou and Saumur: 5,282; Touraine: 3,668; Loir et Cher: 303; Sarthe: 153

California 1,938ha (9% of production)

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