Chenin Blanc

Chenin Blanc is a brilliantly versatile white grape best known from France’s Loire Valley and South Africa, producing wines from bone-dry and crisp to rich and sweet. Expect apple, pear and quince with citrus, peach and honey. Its naturally high acidity makes it brilliant with seafood, roast chicken, pork, spicy Asian food, creamy dishes and fruit desserts.

Taste:

One grape. An almost unreasonable number of personalities.

Chenin Blanc can be dry, off-dry or sweet, still or sparkling, but high acidity is usually at the heart of it. Expect green apple, pear and quince alongside lemon, peach and sometimes tropical fruit.

Dry styles can be crisp, mineral and slightly floral, while richer versions develop flavours of honey, beeswax, nuts and spice. Sweet Chenin brings concentrated peach, apricot and honey while keeping enough acidity to stop things getting heavy.

It can also age beautifully, with good bottles developing increasingly complex honeyed and nutty flavours over time.

Basically, Chenin Blanc looked at picking a lane and politely declined.

Food Pairings:

Chenin Blanc's versatility means the right pairing depends on the style you've opened.

Dry Chenin is brilliant with prawns, crab, mussels, grilled fish, sea bass and seafood salads. It also works beautifully with roast chicken, grilled chicken, roast pork and pork chops.

Richer styles can handle creamy chicken, mushroom pasta, creamy pasta, mushroom risotto and roast pork particularly well.

Off-dry Chenin is a great match for spicy Asian food, including Thai green curry, Thai red curry, chicken curry, spicy noodles and dishes featuring chilli, ginger or aromatic spices.

Sweet Chenin works beautifully with peach tart, apricot desserts, fruit tart, cheesecake and blue cheese.

For lighter meals, goat’s cheese salad and roasted vegetables are great matches too.

Similar Wines:

If you enjoy Chenin Blanc, Riesling is a natural next move for another high-acid white that can go from bone-dry to intensely sweet.

Petit Manseng offers similarly impressive acidity alongside tropical fruit in both dry and sweet styles.

Sauvignon Blanc is worth exploring if it’s dry Chenin’s freshness and citrus you love, while Chardonnay offers plenty of options if richer texture is more your thing.

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More About Chenin Blanc:

Chenin Blanc is most closely associated with France’s Loire Valley, particularly appellations including Vouvray, Savennières and Anjou.

South Africa has also made the grape very much its own. Known historically there as Steen, Chenin Blanc is the country’s most widely planted grape variety and can produce everything from fresh everyday whites to serious old-vine wines.

Its naturally high acidity is the secret behind much of its versatility, allowing the grape to retain freshness even when harvested very ripe for sweeter styles.

Dry. Sweet. Still. Sparkling. France. South Africa.

Chenin Blanc's CV could really use an editor.