Chenin blanc (, ; known also as Pineau de la Loire among other names) is a white wine grape variety from the Loire Valley of France. Its high acidity means it can be used to make varieties from sparkling wines to well-balanced dessert wines, although it can produce very bland, neutral wines if the vine's natural vigor is not controlled. Outside the Loire, it is found in most of the New World wine regions; it is the most widely planted variety in South Africa, where it was historically also known as Steen ( ). The grape may have been one of the first to be grown in South Africa by Jan van Riebeeck in 1655, or it may have come to that country with Huguenots fleeing France after the revocation of the Edict of Nantes in 1685. Chenin blanc was often misidentified in Australia, as well, so tracing its early history in the country is not easy. It may have been introduced in James Busby's collection of 1832, but C. Waterhouse was growing Steen at Highercombe in Houghton, South Australia, by 1862.
It provides a fairly neutral palate for the expression of terroir, vintage variation, and the winemaker's treatment.Oz Clarke Encyclopedia of Grapes pg 75-83 Harcourt Books 2001 In cool areas, the juice is sweet but high in acid with a full-bodied, fruity palate. In the unreliable summers of northern France, the acidity of under-ripened grapes was often masked with chaptalization with unsatisfactory results, whereas now, the less-ripened grapes are made into popular sparkling wines such as Crémant de Loire. The white wines of the Anjou AOC are a popular expression of Chenin as a dry wine, with flavors of quince and apples. In nearby Vouvray AOC, vintners aim for an off-dry style, developing honey and floral characteristics with age. In the best vintages, the grapes can be left on the vines to develop noble rot, producing an intense, viscous dessert wine, which may improve considerably with age.
History
French ampelographer Pierre Galet has theorized that Chenin blanc originated in the Anjou wine region sometime in the 9th century, and from there traveled to Touraine by at least the 15th century. The grape may have been the variety described in two royal land grants of Charles the Bald in 845 detailed in the records of the abbey of Glanfeuil as growing on the left bank of the Loire River in vineyards belonging to individuals with the name of Soulangé and Bessé.J. Robinson, J. Harding and J. Vouillamoz Wine Grapes - A complete guide to 1,368 vine varieties, including their origins and flavours pgs 82, 236-238 Allen Lane 2012
When Thomas Bohier purchased vineyard land around Chenonceaux on January 3, 1496, several grape varieties were brought in from the Burgundy wine region of Beaune, the Jura wine region of Arbois and nearby Orléans and Anjou. One of these varieties, a white grape known as Plant d'Anjou, was later planted between 1520 and 1535 at a nearby site known as Mont Chenin in Touraine by the Lord of Château de Chenonceau and his brother-in-law, Denis Briçonnet, the abbot of Cormery. Ampelographers believe that Plant d'Anjou was like Chenin blanc, with the grape eventually taking on the name from Mont Chenin.
French writer François Rabelais (1494–1553) wrote glowingly about the white wines of Anjou, and mentions the medicinal qualities of the grapes at the end of chapter XXV of Gargantua:
This done, the shepherds and shepherdesses made merry with these cakes and fine grapes, and sported themselves together at the sound of the pretty small pipe, scoffing and laughing at those vainglorious cake-bakers, who had that day met with a mischief for want of crossing themselves with a good hand in the morning. Nor did they forget to apply to Forgier's leg some fat chenin grapes, and so handsomely dressed it and bound it up that he was quickly cured.Translation based on that of Gustave Doré (1894) at Project Gutenberg of the following French :Ce faict, et bergiers et bergieres feirent chere lye avecques ces fouaces et beaulx raisins, et se rigollerent ensemble au son de la belle bouzine, se mocquans de ces beaulx fouaciers glorieux, qui avoient trouvé male encontre par faulte de s'estre seignez de la bonne main au matin, et avec gros raisins chenins estuverent les jambes de Forgier mignonnement, si bien qu'il feut tantost guery.
From France, the grape spread to South Africa, where it was most likely included among the vine cuttings sent to Jan van Riebeeck in the Cape Colony by the Dutch East India Company. In the 20th century, a subvariety of Chenin planted in the Loire was found to be not actually Chenin blanc at all, but rather the Portuguese grape Verdelho, which is banned from French AOC regulations in the Loire.
Relationship to other grapes In 1999, DNA analysis showed that Chenin blanc has a parent-offspring relationship with the Jura wine grape Savagnin. Additional DNA evidence shows that Chenin blanc shares a sibling relationship with Trousseau and Sauvignon blanc (both grapes the likely offspring of Savagnin), which strongly suggests that Chenin blanc is the offspring and Savagnin is the parent variety. Through Chenin's half-sibling relationship with Sauvignon blanc, the grape is related as an aunt/uncle variety to the Bordeaux wine grape Cabernet Sauvignon which is the offspring of Sauvignon blanc and Cabernet Franc.
Other DNA research has shown that a crossing of Chenin and the Hunnic grape Gouais blanc produced several varieties including Balzac blanc, Colombard and Meslier-Saint-François. In South Africa, the grape was crossed with the Italian wine grape Trebbiano to produce Weldra and Chenel.
Over the years, Chenin blanc has also been frequently confused with other grape varieties with which it does not seem to have a close genetic relationship. This includes the Portuguese wine grape Verdelho grown on the island of Madeira Machupiclait and in the Azores, as well as the Spanish wine grape Albillo, which was confused for Chenin blanc in Australia.
Viticulture
The Chenin blanc grapevine buds early in the growing season and ripens midway to late in the harvest year. However, in warm years, the balance between the Loire's marginal climate and the warmth needed to attain full ripeness has the potential of producing wines with some depth of complexity and finesse. The age of the vine can have an influence on wine quality, with older vines producing naturally lower yields. When infected by noble rot, which also lowers yields and adds and intensifies certain flavors, the wines develop less overtly floral aroma notes, but more depth and layers.
New clonal varieties have been developed that delay budding and increase sugar development during the ripening phase. Six of these new clones have been officially sanctioned by the French government. The vine is semi-upright in habit with three- to five-lobed leaves. It tends to break bud early, with conical, winged bunches containing yellow-green grapes that ripen late. The berries are typically 16.0 mm long x 14.2 mm wide, with an average weight of 1.79 g.
The climate of a wine region largely dictates whether Chenin blanc is produced in a predominantly sweet or dry manner, while the vineyard soil type generally influences the overall style of the wine. Heavy clay-based soils, paired with the right climate, are favorable to the development of weighty, botrytized dessert wines that need time to age and mature. Well-drained and less organic, predominantly sandy soils tend to produce lighter styles of wine that mature more quickly. Chenin blanc planted in soils with a high silex content produce wines with distinctive minerally notes, while limestone-based soils encourage wines with sharp acidity. In Vouvray, the soil is predominantly argilo-calcaire or calcareous clay, which produces rounded wines with both acidity and weight. In areas where schist is plentiful in the soil, Chenin blanc grapes generally ripen earlier than in vineyards with predominantly clay-based soils.
Among the viticultural hazards to which Chenin is susceptible (apart from botrytis in less than ideal conditions) are damage from spring frost, powdery mildew, and fungal disease (such as dead arm of grapevine) that affect the wood structures of the grape vine. Some of these hazards can be managed with integrated pest management and rootstock selection.J.H.S. Ferreira "Effect of Rootstock on the Incidence of Dying Arm of Chenin blanc vines " Viticultural and Oenological Research Institute, Stellenbosch, Republic of South Africa. March, 1985
Yields and harvest times
While true for most wine grape varieties, the quality of Chenin blanc wine is intimately connected to the care taken in the vineyard. If the grapes are harvested too soon, before they ripen, the high acidity results in wine being (according to wine expert Oz Clarke) "one of the nastiest wines possible". If the grapes are harvested at too high of a yield, the grapes do not retain any of Chenin blanc's distinctive character notes. In the Loire, French regulations mandate that yields be kept low (40-50 hl/ha). At these levels, more of Chenin blanc's varietal characteristics of floral, honeyed aromas are exhibited. When the grape is harvested at high yields, such as the California Central Valley average of 10 tons per acre (175 hl/ha), Chenin's flavors become more bland and neutral. The vine is naturally vigorous and prone to overcropping if not kept in check. In fertile soils, as in parts of South Africa, Chenin blanc can easily produce yields of 240 hl/ha. To keep yields in check, vineyard managers may choose to graft Chenin vines with less vigorous rootstock from Vitis riparia or Vitis rupestris vines. During the growing season, they may also elect to do a green harvest where excess grape clusters are removed.
With optimal ripeness and balance between acidity and sugars being such a viticultural priority for Chenin blanc, many growers (such as those in the Loire Valley) harvest the grapes in "tries" or successive pickings through the vineyards. During each series of picking, only the ripest clusters or individual grapes are harvested by hand during a period that could last four to six weeks and include three to six passes through the vineyard. For the production of sweet botrytized wines, pickers look for the grapes that have achieved the necessary amount of the noble rot. In hot and dry years where no noble rot occurs, pickers may leave ripened grapes on the vine long enough to shrivel, or passerillé, where they could later be affected by noble rot. In areas that experience considerable vintage variation, winemakers may decide on a day-by-day basis what style and dryness of Chenin blanc they could make, with the grapes harvested during each try going to different styles of wine. For some producers in Vouvray, which may have up to six tries during harvest, the first few could go to sparkling and dry wine production, while the later trie could go towards sweet wine production.
Wine regions While Chenin blanc is planted across the globe from China to New Zealand, Canada, and Argentina, it is considered a "major" planting in only a few locations. Though France is the viticultural home of Chenin blanc, by the turn of the 21st century, twice as much Chenin blanc was planted in South Africa as in France. The grape's versatility and ability to reflect terroir causes it to lead, as what Jancis Robinson describes, a "double life". In the Loire Valley of France, it is prized as a premium quality wine grape able to produce world-class wines, while in many New World wine regions, it used as a "workhorse variety", contributing acidity to bulk white blends and showing more neutral flavors rather than terroir. Throughout all its manifestations, Chenin blanc's characteristic acidity is found almost universally in all wine regions.
France