One of the most widely cultivated grape in the world (it thrives in places like Brazil and Mexico as well as France and California) is also one of the more difficult wines to find on a grocery store shelf.
I call it the lost wine. Or the 'white merlot'.
Most of us have seen
Sideways and I'm sure I've talked about this before, but let me review:
Great movie. I just hate that it affected the wine industry so much, and in a negative way. The line when Miles exclaims "I'm not drinking anymore fucking Merlot!" hit home with a bunch of people. The wines snobs laughed heartily and thought "here,
hear" while other red wine drinkers laughed, uncomfortably thinking "But I
like merlot..." After that movie, and to this very day, Pinot Noir sales have soared, and merlot is finally, slowly, making a come back as a
good wine.
But even prior to that movie and Mile's dramatic disdain for Merlot, Merlot had a bad rap for the most part.
In the 70's and early 80's it was overproduced in California. It was easy to grow and took off like wildfire. Then, when people began actually drinking red wines (white, or pink wines were more the fashion back in the mid to late 80s) this overproduced, easy drinking, non complex merlot proved to be a hit. And because there was a lot of it, it was cheaper than, say Cabernet Sauvignon.
By the late 90's wine snobs poo-pooed that style of merlot, stating the grape was unsophisticated, dull and bland. Nevertheless it was still a hit with the general population.
The popular movie was a final blow to poor merlot.
But! Merlot is great, one of my favorite grapes (when done correctly--I agree I've had a lot of dull, bland and unsophisticated merlots but some of the best wines I've ever had were Merlot based).
So, while I've just spent a few minutes writing about Merlot, that's not the grape I'm talking about...no no..the grape in discussion today is
Chenin Blanc.
Chenin grows vigorously (although has its fair share of viticultural issues--which I won't get into because most people don't care about bunch rot and early bud break) and has proved to be a good grape of choice in areas that are generally too warm for most wine grapes (the above stated Brazil) as well as finding homes in cooler regions (France's Loire Valley). Because it's easy to grow, disease tolerant, soil tolerant nature it took off like, um, something else (don't want to use that wildfire term again and am drawing a blank on another expression) in California in the 70's and 80's. And, that's when light, slightly sweet, white wines were very popular.
It was the perfect grape.
But, then, tastes changed and people moved away from sweet wine (and in a lot of cases white wine in general). However, Chenin did not disappear, instead it found a home in jug wines. And to this day is still one of the most widely cultivated grapes in california, but the majority of it finds it's way to bulk, bad wine.
In my home state Chenin production has gone downhill dramatically. There were almost 300 acres of chenin planted in 93, in 06 (the last year of production reports available--they're done every three years) there were only 160 acres.
Most growers were pulling it out due to lack of demand and the bad image the wine had in general.
Here's the thing, though. Chenin makes beautiful wine. It's style is best observed in an off-dry (meaning a touch of residual sugar, so yes, slightly sweet) wine. The nose on good chenin should start off with a strange damp straw aroma followed by a plethora of fruits ranging from tropical (guava, papaya, kiwi) to more traditional (peach, apricots, pears, melons) with a back drop of honey or honeysuckle. There's also spice notes in most of clove and nutmeg. Not only is the nose beautiful, but the palate should meld all those flavors together into a rich, lush wine.
It's lovely. And it makes it really easy to pair food with it: spicy asian, light beef salads, traditional turkey dinner...it all works.
Luckily two places have continued to produce really good chenin: South Africa where it's known as Steen, more commonly, and the Loire Valley in France--particularly in Vouvray.
The other really cool thing about Chenin is that it has high acidity for the grape, meaning it makes excellent, dry, sparkling wines or you can go the completely other route and make extremely syrupy dessert wines with it as well. It's even made into port-like wines and brandies.
If you're interested in trying some Chenin, and you should be, look for these:
First from the Loire and the home of Chenin--Vouvray, Domaine le peu de la Moriette from Domaine Pichot. Very consistant, classic and lost of honey flavors. I just had the 2006--delicious.
Ranges in price from $13-$17
Also from the Loire, but Anjou area, is Domaine Baumard's Carte Turquoise which is a nonvintage cuvee of Chenin and Cabernert Franc. It's a very dry, delightful sparkling.
Price range $19-$25
Mulderbosch is one of my favorite producers from South Africa, period. But one reason for that is that there is actually access to it. Mike Dubrovic is the winemaker and he's quite good with white wines. Each year the Chenin, or steen, is a bit different. I just had the 07, which had 11% barrel fermented (in new oak) and 8% late harvest Sauvignon Blanc added to it to give it an off-dry finish. The 08 sounds even more interesting with 30% barrel fermented in new american and hungarian oak.
Price $13-$17
This blend from Pine Ridge is very, very nice. Lots of fruit, a touch of sugar, and very food friendly. The 07 is a blend of 80% chenin and 20% viognier. A good example that California is still making some good chenins and not putting it all in their bulk wine production.
price $10-$15
Finally, a representation of my home state, and more importantly, my neighbors. This chenin is one of the drier ones I've had recently, but the fruit flavors are still very lively. McKinley springs also makes a late harvest, sweet, dessert chenin that's very good and very affordable. They (family run opperation) all happen to love Chenin, so they have a vineyard block of chenin that was planted in 1981--they never pulled it out because they all liked the grapes, even when they couldn't sell it. However, while I highly recommend this, they're fairly young and their distribution is just in the major markets, not nation-wide, yet.
price $13
Comments (4)
Have enjoyed the occasional Vouvray, but it's been a while. May be time to pay another visit. Also took note of the Viognier content of the Pine Ridge selection. I usually keep a couple bottles of Viognier in the rack, so I'll check this one as well.
As usual, great job with the background info and descriptions.
I larned sumpin!
@longtimelurker - you shouldn't have any problem finding the any of these in your market--especially that pine ridge. It just sales out easily, is the only issue.
and thanks!
@satori - well, that's what I'm here for; to learn you.