Chenin Blanc
APPEARANCE
ON THE VINE: The compact bunches are usually conical in shape, with some broadening at the shoulders. The berries tend to be small ovals, very juicy and fairly thin-skinned. Greeny yellow when ripe.
IN THE GLASS: A good Chenin, oaked or otherwise, will tend to be crystal clear with an attractive gleam when young, becoming straw yellow and gold when aged or wooded.
SMELL
Tropical fruit aromas. Guava. Sometimes a honeyed melon bouquet.
TASTE
Made in a diversity of styles, bone-dry to full-sweet, with quintessential examples including young, unwooded, dry to off-dry wines offering uncomplicated, crisp fruitiness for easy drinking. Confusion with Chardonnay is understandable when the wood vanillins are prominent, the palate or finish creamy, full and dry – but Chardonnay’s lemon zest is missing. When made as a dry still wine it shows the same tropical fruit found on the nose. When made as a botrytised dessert wine it is unctuous, sweet, honeyed, full of dried apricots and peaches, sometimes butterscotch. Classically, one can expect tree fruits – guava, peach and apricot – or tropical melon characteristics in fresh bottles, while honey and almond features can develop with age.
ORIGIN
As with most wine grapes, it’s French in origin. The earliest records have it cultivated in the 9th century at an abbey in the Anjou region.
IN SOUTH AFRICA
Believed to have been brought to South Africa by Jan van Riebeeck, Chenin Blanc is used for making still white wines, rosé, sweet dessert wines, sparkling wines as well as brandy and sherry.
ELSEWHERE IN THE WORLD
Used to make some of the great wines of the Loire Valley, France, regarded as the spiritual home of Chenin Blanc, where it’s made in various styles that range from crisp, dry and almost flinty to those with a very honeyed sweetness – not forgetting the region’s vibrant sparkling wines.
AGEING POTENTIAL
French Chenin can keep for decades, particularly those from Vouvray, which sustain their quality for years and years. South African Chenin has only been made in serious styles since the mid to late 1990s and has yet to prove its longevity.
MATCHING WITH FOOD
Seafood and fish, and Thai food – or light summer chicken dishes.
SERVING TEMPERATURE
Between 12° and 14° C.