Chenin Blanc: grape flavours and Loire wines

Chenin is one of France's oldest grape varieties. Its homeland is Anjou and Touraine, both in the Loire valley. An old account credits 9th-century Glanfeuil monks; the name probably comes from Touraine's Mont Chenin. Chinon-born Rabelais wrote of these wines in the 16th century.

Dutch merchants distributed sweet Loire wine across northern Europe in the 17th century. Chenin reached South Africa with early settlers then. Today South Africa grows more Chenin than the whole of France, and it is the country’s most widely planted variety.

Recognise fruit, honey and acidity.

Acidity survives even very ripe grapes. Sweet wines stay fresh; dry ones remain incisive. Top wines live 30–50 years or longer.

Lanolin and wax are aged Chenin signatures, surprising beginners and delighting enthusiasts.

Uneven ripening and variable Loire weather allow different wines from one vineyard in the same year:

1. Sparkling, early acidic picking: Crémant de Loire, Vouvray pétillant, Saumur brut.
2. Dry, sec, healthy ripe grapes.
3. Off-dry, demi-sec, riper bunches.
4. Sweet, moelleux or liquoreux, noble-rot or vine-dried grapes picked in successive passes, sometimes berry by berry until November.

Cool years mean more dry and sparkling; warm years more sweet. Labels matter.

Read “Sancerre and Vouvray”.

Small Savennières, on steep slate and volcanic soils near Angers, makes full-bodied dry wines, quince, honey, smoke and length. Austere young, it opens after five to ten years.

Two tiny appellations sit within: Savennières-Roche-aux-Moines and Savennières-Coulée-de-Serrant. The latter is a single estate, an early French biodynamic pioneer in the 1980s, visited by winemakers worldwide to learn.

Coteaux du Layon, Bonnezeaux and Quarts de Chaume use noble-rot Chenin from a small river valley. Morning mist and warm days foster botrytis, as in Sauternes. Lighter and fresher than Sauternes: apricot, quince, honey, citrus peel, bright acidity, lasting decades.

Serve with foie gras, blue cheese, Tarte Tatin and fruit desserts. Read “Sauternes”.

Traditional method like Champagne, aged at least twelve months, mainly Chenin with Chardonnay and Cabernet Franc often added. Excellent value at €8–15, fresh apple and brioche, brut or rosé. Read “What is Crémant?”.

Nearby Saumur brut ages in tuffeau caves; many houses welcome visitors.

The country's leading grape long made simple wine and brandy. Over twenty years, old vines have produced world-class dry wines. Tropical fruit, peach, melon, softer acidity, sometimes barrels. Loire Chenin is fresher, more mineral and more often sweet.

Excellent with Asian cooking, off-dry softening spice while acidity refreshes, and cheese, especially Loire goat's cheese with dry Chenin.

• Dry: 8–10 °C; aged Savennières 12 °C, benefiting from a decanter.

• Off-dry and sweet: 8–10 °C.
• Sparkling: 6–8 °C.
• Ageing: simple dry two to five years; good Vouvray and Savennières 10–20; sweet 20–50. Horizontal, dark, 12–14 °C.

1. Sweetness: sec dry, demi-sec off-dry, moelleux sweet, doux or liquoreux very sweet. Ask if absent.
2. Introduction: Vouvray or Montlouis sec, €12–20.
3. Cheese and fish: Savennières or Anjou blanc.
4. Dessert: Layon, €12–25 per half or full bottle.
5. Celebration: Crémant.

A noble grape, but less common on shelves than Chardonnay or Sauvignon:

• Sweetness confusion sends buyers towards familiar Sauvignon.

• Place labels, Vouvray, Savennières, Anjou, hide the grape.
• Years of basic wine and brandy gave a workhorse reputation in South Africa and Loire.
• Time needed: top wines need five to ten years, while most wine is drunk young.

That is changing today. Young Loire and South African winemakers are producing dry Chenin from old vines. Sommeliers add these wines to restaurant lists, and critics call Chenin one of the most underrated great grapes. For wine lovers this is good news: a great Chenin costs several times less than a great Chardonnay.

Local pairings work best:

• Pike or pike-perch with beurre blanc, Nantes-born butter, shallot and wine sauce: Savennières or Vouvray sec.

• Tours rillettes and rillons: off-dry Vouvray or Montlouis.
• Prune pork: demi-sec.
• Sainte-Maure-de-Touraine: dry.
• Tarte Tatin, from Sologne: Layon.
• Saumur cave mushrooms, grown in the same tuffeau caves as wine ages.

Read “Amboise”.

Chenin is the ideal grape for understanding how sweetness changes a wine. Buy three bottles from a single appellation, such as Vouvray: sec, demi-sec and moelleux. Chill them to 9 °C and taste in that order. You will discover how the same quince and honey notes express themselves in a dry, off-dry and sweet wine, and how acidity holds everything in balance. Add a fourth bottle, Crémant de Loire, for the apéritif. Serve goat's cheese, rillettes, chicken in a cream sauce and Tarte Tatin: each wine will have its own matching dish.

The Loire is one of France's easiest wine regions to explore on a trip. Châteaux, vineyards and cellars stand close to one another, and cycling paths following the river connect them.

• Vouvray and Montlouis, 10–15 minutes from Tours, tuffeau cellars advertising dégustation.

• Saumur, château, sparkling-wine caves and underground mushroom farms.
• Angers and Savennières, castle and Apocalypse tapestry, steep vineyards.
• Layon valley, quiet sweet-wine villages and cycling routes.

Best in September–October, harvest and noble-rot selections. Spring and summer combine easily with châteaux.

Anjou blanc and Crémant €8–15; Vouvray and Montlouis €12–25; Savennières €20–40; Layon €12–25; top Quarts de Chaume and Bonnezeaux €30–60. Abroad, often one and a half to twice as much. Still among France's best-value noble wines.

1. Buying Vouvray without checking sweetness.
2. Serving sweet Chenin too warm.
3. Opening young Savennières without decanting.
4. Confusing Chenin and Sauvignon. Different grapes and flavours.
5. Thinking wax and wool mean spoiled wine. Part of its aged character.

Vouvray tuffeau cellars, Montlouis and Anjou, dry, sweet and sparkling Chenin tastings with winemakers. → Loire château wine tour · Sancerre and Vouvray · Amboise