Chenin
Blanc
At
the beginning of the 1970s, Americans began to
discover that California's better-quality wines
labeled their bottles with the name of the predominate grape variety, rather than standard practice of the day which was to label with generic names. Made
in a style popular at that time, fragrant and lightly
sweet, and also easy to pronounce, Chenin Blanc
quickly became the best-selling wine of the
era.
The "boom" in
wine, especially white varietals, caught most
producers by surprise. As wine
popularity rocketed, Chenin Blanc helped to
introduce another, completely unpopular, wine
phenomenon that ironically rang this varietal's
death knell for sales: allocation.1 Charles Krug was the
top-selling brand and, from 1972 to 1977, the
winery completely manipulated the
supply chain, using the demand for Chenin Blanc as a reward available only
to buyers of their other less-popular
white and red wines.2
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 using dominantly or entirely chenin blanc grapes. The versatility of Chenin Blanc may be both a blessing and a curse, since very few labels reveal any residual sugar which would indicate the style or sweetness of the wine to consumers.
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. It is the major white variety in South
Africa, where nearly a fifth of all vines are chenin blanc (aka
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, while retaining naturally high acidity, suits chenin
blanc to grow in climates otherwise 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 and frequently blended with other varieties to contribute acidity without significantly altering flavor profile. A general tendency to
over-irrigate and overcrop further reduce most
Chenin Blanc to the forgettable. Careful
viticultural practices to reduce crop size and prevent sunburn can overcome chenin
blanc's weaknesses and reward the effort with distinctive and excellent
wines.
Nearly all the
truly memorable Chenin Blancs are French, from
Saumur and Savennières
(very 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:
|
*Typical
Chenin Blanc Smell and/or Flavor Descriptors
|
| *Typicity
depends upon individual tasting ability and experience
and is also affected by terroir and seasonal conditions,
as well as viticultural and enological techniques.
This list therefore is
merely suggestive and neither comprehensive nor exclusive. |
Varietal Aromas/Flavors: |
Processing Bouquets/Flavors: |
Floral: honey, honeysuckle |
Mineral: flint, smoke |
Fruity: quince, melon, esp. Honeydew,
cantaloupe |
Light Oak: (atypical) vanilla, sweet wood, oak |
Aggressive: iodine, "gym socks" |
Heavy Oak: (atypical) |
Herbal:
grass, hay |
Bottle
Age: (drink young!) |
The nominees
for Best Supporting Appellation in California
Chenin Blanc are: Clarksburg (Yolo County) and
Monterey County.
by
Jim
LaMar
Notes
1.
California vineyard acreage planted to Chenin
Blanc was 28,494 in 1982; by 1999, total Chenin
Blanc acreage sunk to 20,962. Over that same
period, Chardonnay acreage more than quadrupled.
BACK
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. By the turn of the
Millennium, the ratio was closer to 50-50 and by 2010, white-to-red consumption percentages nearly reversed, with red wines becoming far more popular.
BACK
RESOURCES
1. Jancis Robinson (ed), Oxford
Companion to Wine, 3rd Edition, (Oxford University Press: London) 2006
2. L. Peter Christensen, Nick K. Dokoozlian, M. Andrew Walker, James A Wolpert, et all. Wine Grape Varieties in California
(University of California, Agricultural and Natural Resources Publications: Oakland) 2003
3. Benjamin Lewin, Wine Myths and Reality
, (Vendage Press: Dover, DE) 2010
4. Steven Spurrier & Michel Dovaz, Academie du Vin, Complete Wine Course
(G.P. Putnam & Sons, New York) 1983
5. Charles Sullivan, A Companion to California Wine: An Encyclopedia of Wine and Winemaking from the Mission Period to the Present
(University of California Press: Berkeley) 1998
6. Jancis Robinson (ed), Jancis Robinson's Guide to Wine Grapes
, (Oxford University Press: New York) 1996
