#CheninBlanc

Sep 1, 2022

WINE OF THE WEEK: Bellingham The Bernard Series Chenin Blanc 2021, South Africa

£11–£14.39, Tesco, The General Wine Co Chenin Blanc comes in all shapes and sizes: dry, medium, sweet, still, sparkling, oaked, unoaked, mass-market, limited-production (but rarely overpriced), early drinking, long-lived, young vines, old vines and more. There's something for everyone and yet as a grape variety it's never captured hearts in the way that whites like Sauvignon Blanc and Chardonnay have. It's not as if it's difficult to pronounce, but maybe the sheer diversity o

Jul 8, 2021

WINE OF THE WEEK: Wolf & Woman Chenin Blanc 2019, Swartland, South Africa

£19.68, Justerini & Brooks You can pour this and drink it straightaway with pleasure, but it repays time in the glass handsomely. Decanting is another option. It's also best not to chill it too heavily. At first, it's linear, taut and savoury with salty wet rock and crunchy green apple flavours. After 5–10 minutes, while losing none of its crackling energy and steel, sweeter apple and peach emerge alongside fresh lemon and preserved lemon, hints of honey and spice and a textu

Oct 15, 2020

WINE OF THE WEEK: Springfontein Terroir Selection Chenin Blanc 2018, Springfontein Rim, South Africa

£16.96, Private Cellar There were a couple of other South African wines, red and white, in the running for this week's slot, but this organic Chenin is from a producer – an estate – I barely know, although once I read the label I knew a lot more about the estate, the growing conditions and the winemaking. Amazing how much you can pack on to a label if you want to. And then I went to the website and discovered a whole lot more, not least that Springfontein Rim, an appellation

Oct 31, 2019

WINE OF THE WEEK: Alheit Vineyards Limited Release Chenin Blanc 2018, Western Cape, South Africa

£14.99, Majestic Welcome back, Majestic. After we nearly lost the pioneering wine warehouse chain altogether earlier this year, it’s good to see it not just hanging on but bouncing back with a revitalised wine range that recalls its heyday. Stalwarts such as the gorgeous Inama Soaves have been joined by old favourites that had been dropped, among them Château Caronne Ste-Gemme, and boosted by a raft of captivating new wines, of which this Chenin is one and the light, lip-smac

Apr 4, 2019

WINE OF THE WEEK: Château Pierre-Bise Clos de Coulaine Savennières 2016, Loire France

£20.50/£18.50, Lea & Sandeman Savennières from a favoured vintage and good producer is an absolute treasure – dry and mineral, yet honeyed, especially after a couple of years' age, and always carried by pivotal acidity. The appellation is just west of Angers on schist hills on the north bank of the Loire and 2016 was a year in which frost wreaked havoc, but for the vineyards that were spared it closed on a high with a sunny, warm late summer. The result is intensity of flavou

Oct 4, 2018

WINE OF THE WEEK: Ken Forrester Workhorse Chenin Blanc 2017, Stellenbosch, South Africa

£8, Marks & Spencer I don't know whether this has been getting better with each vintage or whether I'd forgotten what great value it is. Probably it's both, but either way you get a lot of quality and Cape Chenin character for a modest outlay (and if you're having a party, see below for quantity discounts). The vines are 30 years old, mature enough to give textbook Chenin flavours – straw-like nuttiness, dried flowers, fresh peach, apple and crisp citrus – and they're bound t

Jun 15, 2017

WINE OF THE WEEK: Domaine Cady Cheninsolite 2015, Anjou, France

£14.99, Waitrose I’ve chosen this full, dry, honeyed Loire Valley white in honour of Drink Chenin Day on Saturday. I could have picked any number of delicious South African Chenin Blancs – and am looking forward to tasting a fair few at The Wine Gang’s summer festival – but I’ve gone instead for a Chenin from its birthplace in the Anjou region. A classic region, but an atypical wine. Against the Anjou norm, Alexandre Cady ferments and ages his Cheninsolite in French oak barre

Jul 7, 2016

WINE OF THE WEEK: Zalze Reserve Chenin Blanc 2015, Coastal Region, South Africa

£7, Sainsbury's (special offer price) This Cape white, from the excellent 2015 vintage, is always one of my favourite wines at Sainsbury’s tastings and at £7 instead of the usual £10 it’s one of best-value dry whites on the shelves at the moment. The low-cropping, old Chenin Blanc vines from Stellenbosch and Paarl give the wine its crisp apple and tangy lemon fruit with a hint of honey, while ageing for a few months in oak barrels gives a creaminess and delicate toasty flavou

May 20, 2016

WINE OF THE WEEK: Domaine de la Grange Patrimoine Blanc 2014, Touraine, France

£13.50, joiedevin.co.uk I fall in love with too many wines, but this was love at first sip. It’s a dry white from the Loire Valley based on the Chenin Blanc grape, but rounded out with a little Chardonnay and fermented in oak barrels to give a creamy softness to the spicy pear fruit and preserved-lemon zesty freshness. It’s a good match for savoury dishes in cream sauces, but can partner simpler fish, seafood, pasta, grain and chicken dishes too. There are just two options fo

Sep 23, 2015

Tales of the Underrated: Chenin Blanc

It was drinking an Anjou Blanc with English asparagus a couple of months ago – Château de Fesles La Chapelle 2011, since you ask – that reminded me what an underrated grape variety Chenin Blanc is. It’s not that people haven’t heard of it. South African Chenin is out there providing an unchallenging, cheap white wine option in supermarkets, pubs and bars the length and breadth of the UK, maybe partly encouraged by the fact that it's pronounceable, which is more than you can

Aug 20, 2015

WINE OF THE WEEK: The Tea Leaf Chenin Blanc 2014

£12.49, Noel Young Wines; £12, WoodWinters A sumptuous but dazzlingly crisp, zesty dry white, with rich tropical and citrus fruit, a hint of ginger and pepper and a sea-spray freshness to finish. While you're trying it with seared scallops, dressed crab, griddled prawns, a flavoursome risotto or herby, lemony chicken, tell someone its story: the Chenin Blanc vines are 70-years-old (the label says 40, but that's another story) and share a rocky slope with rooibos tea plants -