Grape variety
Chenin Blanc
Chenin Blanc: the Loire’s most versatile white grape, from Vouvray to Savennières, and South Africa’s most planted variety, known there as Steen.
- Colour
- White
- Origin
- Loire Valley (Anjou, Touraine); a descendant of Savagnin, the other parent is not established
- Main regions
- Loire (Vouvray, Savennières, Montlouis, Layon), South Africa (Stellenbosch, Swartland)
- Typical aromas
- Quince, apple, chamomile, honey; high acidity, dry to sweet, also sparkling
- Classic pairing
- Goat’s cheese, rillettes, fish in cream sauce; sweet wines with blue cheese
- Synonyms
- Steen (South Africa), Pineau de la Loire
Chenin Blanc is one of the most versatile white grapes in the world: the same fruit gives bone-dry, tensile wines, off-dry wines with a honeyed note, noble sweet wines and fine sparkling wine. Its home is the Loire, where it has grown in Anjou and Touraine for centuries. The name probably goes back to Mont Chenin in Touraine. Mentions from the 9th century in Anjou are often cited, but it is not certain that the same variety was meant. Genetically it is a descendant of Savagnin, the old Jura grape, and so a close relative of Sauvignon Blanc; the other parent is not established.
The vine buds early and ripens late, keeps a high, lively acidity and readily develops noble rot in damp autumns, which explains the breadth of its styles. The aromas centre on quince, apple, pear and chamomile, with honey and wax coming with age.
On the Loire each appellation has its own handwriting. In Vouvray, near Tours, the vine grows on gravel and clay over tuffeau, a soft, pale limestone; there are four levels of sweetness from sec to doux, plus sparkling wines made by the traditional method. Montlouis-sur-Loire, on the opposite bank, is just as varied. In Savennières, on schist hills in Anjou, the wines are taut, mineral and today almost always dry; Coulée de Serrant and Roche-aux-Moines are the best-known names. In the Layon valley, finally, Coteaux du Layon, Bonnezeaux and Quarts de Chaume make sweet wines from botrytised or on-the-vine dried grapes. Good Vouvray and Savennières keep for many years, the best for decades.
Its second great home is South Africa. It has probably grown at the Cape since the 17th century, long under the name Steen, and only in the 1960s was it confirmed that Steen and Chenin Blanc are one and the same variety. With about 16,000 hectares it is the country’s most planted grape, nearly a fifth of its vineyards and more than France has. The range runs from fruity everyday wine to dense, barrel-fermented wines from old, dry-farmed bush vines, for example in Stellenbosch and the Swartland.
At the table Chenin is a grateful partner. Dry wines suit goat’s cheese, pork rillettes, poultry and fish in cream sauce; off-dry ones suit spicy or lightly hot food; sweet ones suit blue cheese or a tarte Tatin. A good way in is to compare a dry Vouvray with a South African Chenin: one grape, two handwritings.