Wine: Chenin blanc grape bursts with the taste of summer

IMAGINE a white wine that smells of honey, pears and quince, with rich creamy palate texture, hints of truffles and rapier-like acidity.

Chenin blanc is a bit of a chameleon. You might have drunk it as a vouvray or saumur sparkling wine, or as an inexpensive Cape quaffer, but chenin is also capable of making very serious dry, off dry or sweet whites, particularly in Loire’s Anjou and Touraine.

A grape with naturally high acidity is very useful in warm climates, so it is not only the Cape’s largest planted white, but also the most popular white grape in Australia, Argentina, New Zealand and across America from California to Texas and Minnesota. Yet in none of these places is it revered in the same way that it is in its homeland in France’s Loire Valley.

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Chenin blanc has been in Angers in the Loire for centuries; believed to have originated in Anjou in the 9th century, possibly as a mutant of pineau d’aunis. Chenin blanc, or pineau de la Loire as it is known locally in Loire, then moved eastwards to Touraine in the 15th century – and ultimately on to the New World.

To get to grips with the real taste of chenin blanc today, you need to sample both its South African and French incarnations. Start in the Cape where chenin blanc is slowly becoming more revered thanks to pioneers like Ken Forrester and Tokara’s winemaker Miles Mossop.

In the Loire, try top dry whites from the small Savennières appellation west of Angers where chenin grows on schist/slate soils picked very ripe and fermented to dryness, with as much richness and strength as you might find in a Rhône white. For off dry examples, vouvray demi-sec in Touraine is an underrated treasure and Coteaux du Layon appellation south of Angers makes superb sweet dessert wines from this glorious grape.