Fan of Chenin

Extraordinary wine is created when craftsmen grasp the versatility of a grape, harness its unique character and take it to great heights around the world. Meet chenin blanc - a grape with roots in France and a second home in South Africa.
Text Angélique Chamboné, Chris Alblas and Château-Petri | Image: René de Waal, Springfontein and others

Chenin Blanc is one of France's oldest and most versatile grape varieties, with a history dating back at least to the ninth century. Known as 'plant d'anjou', it used to flourish and grow in the region around Anjou-Saumur and Touraine. It was cultivated by the Benedictine monks of Mont-Chenin Abbey, from which its current name probably comes. The wines made from it then were loved by the Dutch and the English, because of its high sugar content and longer shelf life. 

In the 17th century, it travelled with the Huguenots to South Africa. Under the name 'Steen', it subsequently became one of the rainbow nation's most important grape varieties. Also because the Cooperative Wine Growers Association of South Africa (KWV) planted it on a large scale from 1918 for distillation into Cape brandy.

From 1980, the focus in South Africa shifted from mass production to quality. In the years that followed, the grape gained international recognition. Chenins from Stellenbosch, Swartland and Paarl were particularly popular, probably because they had the old vines cherish. When Nelson Mandela was elected president in 1994, plantings of chenin blanc in the Cape already covered more than 32,000 hectares. Today, South Africa is home to more chenin blanc than anywhere else in the world, accounting for 53% of production worldwide.

Future-proof grape

Chenin is not the best-known white grape variety worldwide, but it is one that connoisseurs say has coped well with climate change. The acidity of the grapes not only gives the wine enormous storage potential, but also great results in hot areas. Especially with a 'touch of oak', South African wines get high ratings, such as Perdeberg Cellar's barrel-fermented Chenin Blanc from the dry land collection (sampled at Wine Paris 2025). 

Today, chenin blanc is increasingly recognised as a grape with great terroir expression. In France alone, nearly 70 million bottles of chenin are currently produced annually in the Loire Valley. It plays an important role here in 26 AOPs. Plantings are mainly in the Vouvray wine region, close to the city of Tours. Still and sparkling wines are made from it there, ranging from tightly dry to intensely sweet. Especially those sweet sweets are produced in Chaume, Coteaux de l'Aubance and Coteaux du Layon. Top biodynamic domains like Huet, Nicolas Joly and Vincent Carême set the tone there.