The Chenin Blanc grape Chenin Blanc is a cool-climategrape that buds early and ripens late. It has high natural acidity and also a high sugar content, that can be translated into high alcohol. It is thin-skinned and gives wines that are fairly light in color. It is naturally quite vigorous, and the vigor has to be restrained by hard pruning to produce quality wines. It has a natural propensity to NobleRot and makes botrytized wines as well as dry wines.
Locations for Chenin Blanc Chenin Blanc is grown in the Central Vineyards of the Loire, extending from Savennières in Anjou to Vouvray in Touraine. The climate is regarded as marginal for ripening. It is vinified in all styles from dry (including Savennières) to sweet (as in Coteaux du Layon or Quartes de Chaume). The dry wines are best drunk young, but the sweet wines can last for decades. It is also grown quite extensively in South Africa (where it is sometimes known as Steen). Chenin Blanc was taken from the Loire when the Protestants were expelled, first they went to the Netherlands, and then on to South Africa. It is quantitatively more important in South Africa than anywhere else. It is also grown to a lesser degree in California and Argentina.
Winemaking with Chenin Blanc The wines of the Loire tend to be fermented at 16-20°C, whereas those of South Africa are often fermented at lower temperatures to give more exotic aromas and flavors. Stainless steel and old oak may be used, but new oak is not usually associated with Chenin Blanc. There is a tendency in the Loire to use pre-maceration to increase skin contact in order to extract more fruity flavors. Malolactic fermentation is sometimes used to reduce acidity; aging on the lees is sometimes found. Botrytized wines are common in the Anjou AOCs of Coteaux du Layon, Quarts de Chaume, and Bonnezeaux, but less common in Vouvray and Montlouis, where passerillage (use of overripe and shrivelled, but not botrytized) grapes makes dessert wines. The versatility of the variety is well suited to the annual variations of conditions in the Loire, as seen in varying production of sparkling versus still wines and different sweetness levels of still wines. Some growers, such as François Pinon, believe that a small degree of residual sugar is required to counteract the typical bitterness.
The taste of Chenin Blanc Chenin Blanc gives a light colored wine with high acidity, high alcohol, and a medium weight body. Problems with ripening can lead to harsh acidity and pronounced aromas and flavors of green apples. The fruit spectrum is often described as bruised apples, greengages, and minerals. The nose can show characteristic notes described as damp straw, wet wool, or cardboard, or simply rather flat, amorphous fruits, often dominating the mid palate. Fruits are rarely precise with Chenin, but it shows more mineral qualities in Anjou than in Vouvray, where it is vinified in all styles from dry to sweet. All styles show strong acidity. In South Africa the alcohol tends to be greater than in the Loire, and greater yields can result in characterless wine. Chenin Blanc tends to reflect the soil in its terroir. In more detail:
Jasnières as the most Northern appellation in the Loire gives the thinnest wines.
Savennières has well drained blue schist and gives the driest, most mineral style of wine. Its dry climate gives higher alcohol (up to 14%) than in Vouvray (typically 12.5%).
Saumur tends to fairly thin wines that can be characterless.
Vouvray has calcareous soils that give the weightiest dry wines and that also add weight to the sweet wines. Wines are often softer because MLF is more common.
The wines of Montlouis (on the other side of the river) are similar, but have less body, less concentration, and generally should be consumed sooner.
Coteaux du Layon and Quarts de Chaume have clay soils that support the richness of the sweet wines.
South African Chenin (when not overcropped to the point of dilution) can show more exotic flavors, quite aromatic, with notes of tropical fruits brought out by low temperaturefermentation. Styles vary from little use of oak to quite heavily oaked. There is higher alcohol (>14%) and except in the best cases, fruits tend to be suppressed and a bit flat on the nose.
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