SA's Chenin Blanc Challenge

Golden Chenin in the Layon Valley (Loire) 2005

Talking to the Chenin Kings inside the Chenin zone
Tuesday, January 20, 2009 by Graham Howe
"It was Chenin Blanc's bad luck to have long been treated as the vinous equivalent of Muzak: mindless, off-dry white stuff for so-called 'easy-drinking'. It has been planted at all points of the compass. Yet until recently, exciting dry Chenin Blanc was a rarity anywhere." Stuart Pigott, Planet Wine (Mitchell Beazley Publications, 2004)

Mooiplaas Bush Vine Chenin Blanc 2008 is the second unwooded wine in the history of Wine's oldest competition to win the Chenin Blanc Challenge. Chenin kings Francois Naudé, Ken Forrester and Teddy Hall talk to Graham Howe about South Africa's great white hope.

Wooded white wine has dominated Wine's Chenin Blanc Challenge ever since the inauguration of the competition in 1996. In search of a benchmark style for Chenin Blanc - a variety which often suffers from too much diversity - the judges have favoured wooded, bottled-aged vintages. The shift to three categories of Chenin Blanc - best wooded, best unwooded and best value - may have opened up the competition to more producers. Five unwooded wines made the four-star finalist list (15) in 2009.

"Most Chenin Blanc is unwooded" declares Francois Naude, who won the Chenin Blanc Challenge in 1998 with his unwooded L'Avenir Chenin Blanc 1997. A lonely voice in the wilderness over the intervening decade, he has cried out for recognition of a broader spectrum of Chenin. "To improve the quality and status of Chenin Blanc, we have to motivate the producers - the vast majority make unwooded Chenin."

"Why make Chenin taste like wooded Chardonnay? Chenin Blanc ages better than Chardonnay, needs less attention on the vine than Sauvignon Blanc, is more versatile with food and delivers better value." When producers are paid only R3,500 per ton of Chenin versus R6,500 per ton of Sauvignon, he complains there is not much incentive for Chenin growers to spend time improving the variety through canopy management. The only way out of this catch-22 trap is a make-over of Chenin's workhorse image.

Part of an article published on wine.co.za click here for the full text.