Understand the grape
Getting to know the grape
Chenin Blanc is easiest to understand by splitting it into three decisions: dry or sweet, still or sparkling, and plain or barrel-aged. The grape stays recognisable through all of them because the acidity is high and the fruit leans towards quince, baked apple and pear rather than citrus alone. Younger dry wines often add chamomile, white flowers and a little lemon. With age and in sweeter styles, honey, dried apricot and a waxy, wool-like note appear. That acidity is also why sweet Chenin does not taste heavy: the sugar is held up by freshness.
Sweetness is where new drinkers most often get caught out. In Vouvray, the Loire appellation (a legally defined wine place) that makes the widest range, growers decide how to make the wine according to how much sugar the grapes reach, so a bottle may be dry, off-dry or sweet. The French words are sec for dry, demi-sec for off-dry and moelleux for sweet. In Savennières the wine is most often dry, while Quarts de Chaume and Coteaux du Layon are sweet wines made from very ripe grapes, often affected by noble rot, a beneficial mould that concentrates sugar in the berry. In South Africa the same grape runs from fresh, unoaked wines to rich, barrel-fermented ones, so check the back label as well.
Where Chenin Blanc changes
Grape to place
Compare how the grape grows and tastes in these places. Each guide explains the local wines; the Atlas shows where they come from.
Touraine
Vouvray, on the right bank of the Loire upstream of Tours, is made from Chenin Blanc alone and comes dry, off-dry, sweet and sparkling. Montlouis-sur-Loire, across the river, is another place to compare dry and sweet Chenin.
Anjou-Saumur
Savennières is mostly dry, pale gold, with flavours of quince, honey and grilled almond, balanced by freshness and a touch of bitterness. Coteaux du Layon and Quarts de Chaume are sweet, the grapes picked in several passes at full ripeness, often with noble rot.
Stellenbosch
Stellenbosch holds some of the oldest Chenin Blanc vineyards in South Africa. Wines range from fresh and unoaked to full and barrel-fermented, so read the producer's notes for dryness.
Swartland
Swartland is warmer and drier than the Loire and is known for old bush vines, many of them unirrigated. Expect riper fruit than in a Loire bottle, and check the label for dryness.
What changes the result
Vineyard and cellar
The ripeness of the grapes, contact with their skins, and time in tanks or barrels all help shape the wine. Here is what to look for.
Picked for sweetness
For sweet wine, growers go through the vineyard several times and pick only the very ripe berries, which may be shrivelled or touched by noble rot. This is slow hand work, and the Quarts de Chaume vineyard covers only about 40 hectares.
Dry, off-dry or sweet from the same vineyard
In Vouvray, growers adapt the style to the sugar the grapes reach in a given year. The same producer may release a sec, a demi-sec and a moelleux, so compare bottles from one estate and notice how sweetness changes the texture without removing the acidity.
Barrel, cask and lees
Some Chenin is fermented and aged in stainless steel to keep it brisk. Other wines use oak barrels, larger casks or concrete, and rest on the lees, the yeast sediment left after fermentation. Those choices bring a nutty, broader shape. South African producers use all of them, so a quick look at how the wine was made explains much of the difference between bottles.
Sparkling wine
High acidity suits bubbles. Vouvray sparkling wine must be kept for at least twelve months before release, and many cellars are cut into the soft local limestone called tuffeau. Sparkling Chenin is also made in Saumur and sold as Crémant de Loire, and in South Africa. It shows apple, brioche and dried fruit as it ages.
Old vines
South Africa certifies vineyards at least 35 years old with a Certified Heritage Vineyards seal, and Chenin Blanc makes up about half of those old vineyards. Old bush vines usually give small crops and concentrated wines, but the label alone does not tell you the style.
Read the label
On the bottle
A label may name the place instead of the grape. These names and terms help you work out what is in the bottle.
- Vouvray
- A Loire place name, not a style. The wine is Chenin Blanc alone and may be dry, off-dry, sweet or sparkling, so look for the sweetness word on the label.
- Sec, demi-sec, moelleux
- Sec means dry, demi-sec off-dry and moelleux sweet. These words appear on Vouvray and other Loire wines. If the label has none, ask the shop or check the producer's own description.
- Savennières
- An Anjou appellation for Chenin Blanc grown on schist. It is most often dry, though sweeter wines are allowed in good years. La Roche aux Moines and Coulée de Serrant are two named crus inside it.
- Quarts de Chaume and Coteaux du Layon
- Sweet Chenin Blanc from the Layon valley. Quarts de Chaume is a small vineyard of about 40 hectares with grand cru status. Neither name tells you the grape, so remember them as places for sweet Chenin.
- Steen
- The older South African name for Chenin Blanc. For years growers thought it was a Cape grape, until it was shown in the 1960s to be Chenin Blanc. A few producers still use the name on labels.
At the table and in the cellar
Practical use
Serve
Serve dry and sparkling Chenin well chilled, around 7 to 10°C. Sweet wines also taste best cool, around 8 to 10°C, in a normal white wine glass. Rich, barrel-aged examples show more at the warmer end.
Eat
Dry Chenin suits roast pork with apple, goat's cheese tart, chicken and fish in cream sauce. Off-dry bottles handle gentle spice, so try chicken tagine or Thai dishes. Sweet wines work with blue cheese, tarte Tatin or fruit tarts, and sparkling Chenin goes with fried food and shellfish.
Keep
Everyday dry Chenin is usually best in its first few years. Good Savennières, Vouvray and old-vine South African wines can keep for a decade or more, and sweet Loire Chenin from a good vintage can last for decades. The sweetness and acidity are what carry it, so sweeter and more acidic wines tend to last longest.
Taste it in three steps
Three bottles
You can try these bottles on separate occasions. Keep a note of the name, vintage and what you notice, then use the steps below to decide what to compare.
- 01
Start with a dry Loire Chenin
Pick a Savennières or a dry Vouvray marked sec. Notice the high acidity, the quince and apple, and how much weight the wine has without any sweetness.
- 02
Taste a South African Chenin beside it
Choose a dry Chenin Blanc from Stellenbosch or the Swartland. Compare the ripeness of the fruit, the alcohol and any sign of oak. Both wines are the same grape, grown in a much warmer place.
- 03
Try a sweet Chenin
Open a Coteaux du Layon, a moelleux Vouvray or a Montlouis moelleux. Look for honey and dried apricot, then notice how the acidity stops the wine feeling syrupy.