In a world of white wine dominated by grapes like sauvignon blanc, pinot grigio and chardonnay, several impressively tasty varieties become cruelly under appreciated.
Chenin blanc is one of them – which is such a shame given its versatility.
As we find with riesling (another underrated example), chenin’s styles can range all the way from dry to sweet.
Chenin probably originated in France’s Loire Valley and it was certainly growing there in the fourteen hundreds.
That was light years before the Dutch East India Company took it to South Africa – in the middle of the seventeenth century.
Known there as “Steen”, it took to its new home well and, equally, its properties endeared it to South African growers.
Consequently, that country is now the world’s biggest producer of chenin blanc.
However, fortunes back in France have varied.
The end of the last century saw a boost in its sweet wine manifestations – as an alternative to the (then increasingly expensive) sauternes.
The variety, though, is very weather dependant.
One effect is that conditions suit top level sweet versions in only about one in four harvests.
Worse still, poor weather for several years earlier this century led to producers giving up in despair altogether.
Happily, climate change seems to be making disastrous harvests much less common now.
And, with a new breed of winemakers, outstanding versions of chenin are currently being made.
So let’s see which chenins are excelling in the wine aisles right now.
On a positive note, the tasting to populate this post was one of the most enjoyable ones of the year.
As is normal here, pictures and hyperlinks are provided where possible to guide you straight to the right wine on shelf or web page.
Gateway Selection
Wherever possible, I try to provide an inexpensive example to serve as sort of “prototype” for you.
It should be sufficiently typical of the style to give a good idea of what lies further up the ladder.
Yet its price should have a single figure ahead of the dot.
So here is my Chenin Gateway Selection.
2024 De Luxe Chenin Blanc (£6.99 at Lidl and 13.5% abv):
Understandably, Stellenbosch figures prominently in any discussion of quality South African wines.
Recently, though, commentators have been hugely impressed by dramatic progress made further north in Swartland – home to this example.
Smooth, with orchard fruit and honey aromas, it offers us creamy melon and red apple flavours.
These are supported by hints of allspice and camomile with lemon freshness drawn from its well-judged acidic backdrop.
Staying in South Africa.
2023 Bellingham Bernard Series Old Vine Chenin Blanc (£13 at Sainsbury’s and 13.5%):
Some of the most celebrated South African examples come from older vines.
In this “next level up” wine, three helpful things come together nicely – but the price, justifiably, edges up too.
Old vines is one feature, the skilled use of oak is another and an acclaimed and gifted producer is the third.
Golden in colour and enhanced by a gentle whiff of oak, this choice delivers intense and viscous cooked apple, peach and melon flavours.
Oak influences include touches of vanilla and butter but there are other elements too – including honey, gentle yeastiness and contrasting citrus peel acidity.
Switching now to France
2024 The Pebble Chenin Blanc (£10 at Tesco and 11.5%):
Given that the Loire is over 10 degrees further from the equator than the South African winelands, French versions will be different.
Chenin from the Loire tends to be leaner, more subtle and lower in alcohol than those southern hemisphere equivalents.
“Green and crunchy” describes many apple influences on the Loire rather than “red apple” or “cooked apple”.
Opening with a melon fragrance, this has a foundation of Granny Smith apple (told you so!), apricot and sharp tangerine acidity.
Then, joining the party, comes a lively prickle and a harmoniously creamy texture with marmalade and lemon curd traces.
And for a journey down Memory Lane.
2023 Denis Meunier ‘Expresion de Silex’ Vouvray (from £9 at Majestic and 12%):
Probably last century’s best known Loire Valley “chenin patch” was Vouvray – so let’s end with a good value, modern organic version from that region.
The soil there is quite distinctive and the wines just a little riper than versions from the north-facing vineyards on the other side of the river.
Here the apple aromas seem just a modicum sweeter and the colour is white gold while those inevitable apple flavours are joined by subtle pineapple, orange and apricot constituents.
In addition, there is a sense of purity and just a whisper of honey yet with grapefruit acidity to provide crispness and a clean residual mouthfeel.
Join me again on Monday when the spotlight falls on Top Tips from other areas that offer especially good value at a store near you.
10 responses
Chenin is my favourite grape variety, on its own or in blends from South Africa. I love its fruit profile, the mineralality and salty notes it can show, versatility from bone dry to sweet, to sparkling. My favourite of the more budget versions is Tesco’s Finest, made by the excellent Stellenrust in South Africa. Although I have to say, I do probably spend much more on a bottle of Chenin than most other wines! Everyone should drink more Chenin!
Hi Lisa,
It is nice to know that I am not the only Chennin nut.
I first discovered the grape when Charles Metcalf wrote in Decanter under the headline “Sip, Sip, Vouvray in early 1990, celebrating the first of two back to back “vintages of the Century”. 1989 was a wonderful botrytis year such as only occured once in a generation, but it was followed by a hot dry vintage in 1990 with hugely ripe, dessicated grapes. Quite different but both wonderful. When I asked the great, then young, winemaker across the road from Huet, Philip Forreau, which was better he put me firmly in my place saying “the ’90 has the instant appeal now but in 50 years the pure quality of the ’89 will overtake it. Only 15 years to wait now and happily, I still have both wines to compare. I wonder if I will be here to taste them?
As Brian says, Loire Chennin sweeties can give the much more expensive Sauternes a good run for their money when conditions this far north come right, which they are now doing more often.
But let’s not forger the great dry Chennin Blancs either. To me, how wine develops over time (hardly a Mid Week topic, I know), is the final frontier. In the late 1980s a young Jancis Robinson bravely wrote a book called Vintage Timecharts, which mapped the development af quute a number of well known wines. Her prediction for the longest lived wine of all was Saveinnieres, that intense, dry, pure Chennin Blanc enclave a few miles down river from Angers.
Much as I love riesling in all it’s manifestations, Chennin Blanc is still my number one.
Thanks for the reminder Brian. South Africa, where the ubiquitous Steen once occupied a third of the vineyard, is happily rediscovering it’s full ptential.
Thank you Edwin Such evocation . You sound well connected in those parts. We have only ever visited the locale, though many times over more than 40 years. After a prompt by an article in the Times Colour Supplement way back we went to Vouvray on a Saturday afternoon in August 1982. There was a cave-caves run by the local Co-operative of negotiants hollowed out of the tufa stone each producer with a counter in the cool tunnels. We bought a three-bottle pack but plainly knowing not enough bought demi-sec when we wanted dry. Nevertheless We held over a bottle until Xmas day to have very well chilled with the bird, and re-live something of our summer trip!!!
Eventually years later at the promotional centre for local wines in Saumur there was an American guy in there one day being heavily courted by staff readily opening bottles of Savennières for him to sample. I dived and in and asked if I may too? Merci! It was a bit of a revelation when compared to Vouvray-Chenin and I might suggest it wouldn’t be everybody’s favourite. But maybe it’s one of those wines where we need to spend a good deal of money and entry level is just for starters to pique an interest.
To be truthful in those days we hardly knew our Chenin from our Sauvignon and all else besides. But the Chenin Blanc has always stuck, though in truth now mainly ubiquitous South African bottles there being so little in the way of supermarket possibilities of actual Vouvray, just a token offering here and there at Aldi, Sainsbury Tesco and elsewhere. I do enjoy Brian’s suggestion of the SA-CB from Lidl that I most recently had on a 30% off buy 3 deluxe at under £5 that is such value. The Majestic bottle today, is very well priced I think.
The Stellenrust at Sainsbury’s is always on the shelf at home, regularly topping up on a buy-6 deal whenever we can. The TTD CB at Sainsbury’s too is another good one alongside the Morrisons Chilean offering. Such an enjoyable grape when well crafted.
On a different white wine note here is a very interesting proposition . I’m a big fan of all things Bowler & Brolly at Aldi from their Pinot noir and Précoce Rosé to the Bacchus whites. The main reason apart from finding all are to my taste? Being it is English wine but without the attendant “ aspirational pricing for “boutique bottles” tag, god help us all for such pretension!!
I made a double take this week (when I went in for more of their lovely Costière de Nimes blanc so well thought of in these pages and to see if that Bordeaux, 2014 Graves was in my store and really down from £19.99 to £9.99. It was so a double hit, lots on the shelves, and I made purchases), and spotted half a dozen bottles with crown cork tops of something B&B!!! Typical of Aldi as they drag their in-store heels locally with no shelf descriptor or price available I sought reluctant help from a shelf stacker who eventually said …. £12.99!! But he knew nothing else.
Research online revealed all.
So this is something called Pét-Natis
Turns out it was just released by Aldi on June 26th not a week ago to celebrate English Wine Week .. who knew that? June 21st to 29th … they just snuck in … It is supposedly, I quote, <> It’s a very long story and I’m not copying and pasting more. For those wanting the lengthy explanation from the Aldi Digital Media Centre go to http://www.aldipresscentre.co.uk and it is all there.
Imagine that, Aldi have a ”press centre” but you wouldn’t know it .. it isn’t directed at the likes of us mere mortals, more than ”their trade”. But stumbling on it I got chapter and verse.
OK call it what you will … aspirational but not priced excessively so. ”Exclusive boutique wine” it may be to some. This price in that category works, yes, but as yet I have not tried it. I really expect at that money in a Teesside Aldi store it will be still there when I go back just as there was a lot of the 2014 Graves £19.99/£9.99, that I’ve enjoyed too at the reduced price.
If I sell something of my winter wardrobe on Vinted any time soon maybe the money can go towards a try-out bottle of the Pét-Natis .
Did you know Chenin Blanc was named after a mountain?
Read on for more “ indispensable” history..
Chenin Blanc has been traced back to about the mid 800s AD in the Anjou region of France -King Charles the Bald encouraged monasteries to grow it, where it seems to have been called Plant d’Anjou-and took its modern name in the 15th century from Mont-Chenin in the Touraine region east of Anjou. These regions are part of the Loire Valley which is famous for Chenin Blanc (of all styles), dry Sauvignon Blanc and Cabernet Franc. The region follows the Loire river, which is the longest in France and is adorned with fairytale châteaus.
It is believed that it found its way to South Africa in 1655 when Jan van Riebeeck* received a shipment of various vine cuttings,wrapped in damp sailcloth, to propagate in the Cape. For a long time, the vine was known as Steen. It was only in 1963 that Professor Orffer, the head of Viticulture at Stellenbosch University, finally confirmed** that Steen was in fact, Chenin Blanc. Some interesting facts about Chenin Blanc in SA are that it is the most planted of the wine grapevines, SA is the world leader in its production, it is a major contributor to the base wine of brandy.
*who built a settlement on behalf of the Dutch East India company at the Cape of Good Hope as an intermediate restocking and refreshment stop on the very long spice voyage to Indonesia.The grapes provided much needed Vitamin C to ward off scurvy.
* *He brought some Chenin Blanc cuttings from France grew them in SA and the leaf was exactly the same as Steen.Advanced science?
Luckily I have just bought a bottle of False Bay Chenin Blanc 2024 £8.49 Boutinot from All about Wine, who described SA Chenin Blanc “ as having enough body to appeal to Chardonnay drinkers, enough aromatics for Sauvignon Blanc fans and even fresh enough for Pinot Grigio drinkers”.
Final challenge-Why was it called False Bay?
I enjoyed this write up and also enjoy Chenin (albeit not as often as I’d like). The Bellingham in particular sounds outstanding especially when getting away briefly from leaner, greener and more acidic whites.
Thanks Stuart and good to hear from you. The oak in that Bellingham example does make a significant difference.
I tried the rose version of the “pebble” recently and I enjoyed it. I have shunned rose over the years but am trying to come back to it with an open mind so went with this one and was really pleasantly surprised how much I enjoyed it. I found it was best quite chilled and as it came closer to room temperature it lost its edge.
I was in Morrisons today and came across their “block” series which says it celebrates terroir. The 001 in the series, a Margaret river Shiraz, is currently reduced from £20 to £10 so I couldn’t resist. Lots of the others are reduced from mid teens to variations around the £10 mark, and seemed like a good selection of classic wines and regions. I’d be keen to hear whether people have tried others in this series.
That Block series should be the subject of a post sometime soon.
Thanks to Gerwyn for highlighting the Morrisons’ Block Series wines – which had escaped my notice.
In this morning’s Times Jane MacQ considered the Block Series a “bit hit or miss” – but recommended the Pinot Noir (009) and Zweigelt (004).
I popped into the Felixstowe Morrisons to have a look – a Willamette Valley Pinot Noir for £10 and a Zweigelt were my targets. To my disappointment I could find no Block Series wines at all! However I later went to the slightly larger Ipswich branch, and initially, couldn’t find them there, either. However tucked away, at the side end of the aisle, was a special display cabinet for them. (There might have been one in Felixstowe had I been more thorough?). Several showed the reductions, but the 009 Pinot Noir didn’t. But there was also a 30% off offer for buying 3 or more of certain wines. (Which was applied to all of the wines I bought).
Anyway got a bottle of each of these, and took a punt on a Godelho (005) and completed by buying 3 other wines recommended in Jane’s article: Casillero del Diablo Belight Rose; The Best Vinho Verde, Loureiro; and Henri Boulay Macon-Villages. The nett total (you need your Morrisons More card to get the discounts) was £55.85. Which is good enough for me. Hard to argue at the Information Desk about not getting a full £10 off the Pinot Noir, as their website doesn’t show any discounts on any of the Block wines. So check, and note, the store stickers and your checkout bill carefully.
I see nobody replied to you Paul, reference the name of False Bay. So called because those early sailors mistook Hangklip on the eastern side of False Bay for Cape Point, thinking they had reached Table Bay.
Also all that brandy (and coops) is the reason there is so much old vine Chenin around today.