An underdog with the potential of a king. A topper, then, but also a chameleon and a grape with a dual nationality. Meet chenin and be taken in for life.
BY HUIB EDIXHOVEN IMAGE SHUTTERSTOCK
We have in our sights a grape with more faces than any other. From simple house wine to highly complex top wines, from dry as a bone to very sweet, both in a multitude of styles and also loved for its sparkling wine. It reigns supreme in its native region, but has also won a home in the New World. You would expect this to attract a wide audience. This is disappointing. This grape has certainly not always had it easy and it is still an unknown to many wine drinkers. Very unfairly, because chenin is a true classic that deserves plenty of attention.
Origin
Utterly French, that is the origin of chenin. Yet outside the heart of the Loire, you find it mostly in the New World. In France itself, a small selection is still planted in the south near Limoux, where it is used in the local sparkling wine. Otherwise, in terms of plantings, it actually represents very little throughout Europe. Yet it is a very old grape dating back many centuries. That the grape never really became en vogue probably has to do with its somewhat tricky character. If the farmer in the vineyard is not strict and clear, chenin quickly shoots into 'production mode'. That means yields can be huge. The logical flip side of the coin is that yield has an inverse relationship with quality. So producing a lot makes quality plummet - resulting in a bar uninteresting wine. But with productions of 2 litres of wine per square metre, you can't expect much else. The winemaker must surely reduce this to half a litre or less to make quality. If he or she is willing to do this and we speak of a capable winemaker and good vineyards, then chenin can shine like few other white grapes can.
Characteristics
Squeaky young, Chenins are sometimes still a little inaccessible, with somewhat green, closed aromas. Think lime and Granny Smith. Then pear, green plum, twig bark, wet fern, blossom and something more difficult to pinpoint: a kind of salty complexity. Give them a little time, and the wine will get a little deeper in colour and flavour, and you will be rewarded with new aromas. First of all, more apple, but now in addition to the fresh fruity kind, something of a bruised variety, baked apple or even apple pie. It doesn't stop there: jammy stone fruit, beeswax, honey, moist hay, ginger and roasted nuts. Yes, in the best cases, your nose is treated to a depth and layering that seems to have no end. Sometimes, even decades after their vintage, these white wines can still put lovers in seventh heaven - something very few white wines are given.
Read the full story in WINELIFE 64. You can order here.
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