BellaVino

Chenin Blanc

At the beginning of the 1970s, Americans began to discover that California’s better wines are labeled by the predominate grape variety. Made in the style of the day, fragrant and lightly sweet, and also easy to pronounce, Chenin Blanc quickly became the best-selling wine of the era.

As wine popularity rocketed, Chenin Blanc helped to introduce another, completely unpopular, wine phenomenon that became the varietal’s ¹sales death knell: allocation. The “boom” in wine, especially white varietals, caught most producers by surprise. Charles Krug was the top-selling brand and, from 1972 to 1977, the winery completely controlled the chain of supply, using the demand for whites as a reward to buyers of the ²less-popular reds.

Chenin blanc is arguably the most versatile of all wine grape varieties. Crisp, dry table wines, light sparkling wines, long-lived, unctuous, nectar-like dessert wines, and even brandy are all produced in various areas of the wine world, all of chenin blanc.

It might even be said that chenin blanc is France’s most successful export variety, if only considering the vine rather than the wine. Although the native region for chenin is the Loire Valley (where the grape is often called Pineau de la Loire), there is less planted in all of France than in most wine-producing countries of the New World. It is planted as Pinot Blanco in Brazil, Chile, Mexico, and Argentina, where there are over 10,000 acres of chenin blanc. Nearly a third of vines in South Africa are chenin blanc, where it is also called Steen. In California, it is the third most widely planted white wine grape. Australia has close to 1,500 acres and New Zealand 500.

Resistance to many diseases, vine vigor, and the tendency to early bud break and late ripening suits chenin blanc to grow in climates too warm for many vinifera types. The vine grows well in many soil types and can be very vigorous in either sandy loam or clay loam. Production is fairly consistent at from five to eight tons per acre. At three or four years old, the vines tend to overproduce and may set crops too large to fully ripen in the coolest areas. Chenin blanc grapes are susceptible to both bunch rot and sun burn.

In spite of its wide plantings and potential flavor palates, most chenin blanc is made into serviceable, but generally bland wine. A general tendency to over-irrigate and overcrop further reduce most Chenin Blanc to the forgettable. Careful viticultural practices easily overcome chenin blanc’s weaknesses and can result in excellent wine.

Nearly all the truly memorable Chenin Blancs are French, from Saumur and Savennières (dry), Anjou and Vouvray (off-dry), Coteaux du Layon and Quarts de Chaume (dessert), and Crémant de Loire (sparkling). No matter the style, a certain floral, honeyed character, along with zesty acidity are the sensory trademarks of well-made Chenin Blanc. When conditions are right, Botrytis cinerea adds additional complexity and intensity.

The most frequently encountered (but not exclusive) smell and/or flavor elements found in Chenin Blanc-based wines include:

The nominees for Best Supporting Appellation in California Chenin Blanc are: Clarksburg (Yolo County) and Monterey County.

by Jim LaMar

2 From 1970 until the late 1980s, sales and consumption of wine in the United States held a ratio of about 75% white to 25% red. At the turn of the Millennium, the ratio is closer to 50-50.