My Spaswinefood thoughts have turned to South Africa, as I research the possibilities for our March 2014 South African wine country road trip. Recently I had the opportunity to taste South Africa's iconic white wine, Chenin blanc at the Wine Bloggers Conference #WBC13 in Penticton, British Columbia. Chenin Blanc, also known as Steen in South Africa, is the most widely planted grape variety. This fact alone suggests that I need to become familiar with Chenin Blanc. For background information I read with interest Janis Robinson's article detailing the production of Chenin Blanc in the Loire Valley (its viticultural home), South Africa (its second home) and elsewhere. Jim Clarke's special report on South Africa's Chenin Blanc in the Sommelier Journal is another good source. I also discovered South Africa's Chenin Blanc Association. The sources provided me further insights into the Chenin Blanc wines I tasted.
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| Chenin Blanc Tasting Session © Spaswinefood |
Jan van Riebeeck introduced Chenin Blanc to South Africa in 1655. The wine has been described as a "Cuisine Chameleon" because it is adaptable and food friendly. Chenin Blanc's variety of aromas, flavors and styles are influenced by terroir and wine making techniques. During the tasting session I was introduced to some of these variations. For example, Chenin Blanc has amazing aromas like caramel, floral, fruity, mineral, nutty, spicy and woody.
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| Chenin Blanc Aromas Wheel © Spaswinefood |
The Wines Tasted
The #WBC13 tasting session was hosted by
Wines of South Africa.
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| Chenin Blanc Wines © Spaswinefood |
During the tasting session we introduced to eight South African Chenin Blancs. The first was Indaba Chenin Blanc 2012.
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| Indaba Chenin Blanc 2012 © Spaswinefood |
The second Chenin Blanc was Raats Old Vine 2011.
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| Raats Old Vine Chenin Blanc 2011 © Spaswinefood |
The third was a Ken Forrester Vineyards Old Vine Reserve Chenin Blanc 2012.
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| Ken Forrester Vineyards Old Vine Reserve Chenin Blanc 2012 © Spaswinefood |
The fourth was The Bernard Series Old Vine Chenin Blanc 2010.
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| The Bernard Series Old Vine Chenin Blanc 2010 © Spaswinefood |
The fifth Chenin Blanc was a Rijks Private Cellar 2008.
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| Rijk's Private Cellar Chenin Blanc 2008 © Spaswinefood |
The sixth Chenin Blanc was a DeMorgenzon 2011.
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| DeMorgenzon Chenin Blanc 2011 © Spaswinefood |
The seventh Chenin Blanc was a FM Forrester 2011.
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| The FMC Forrester Meinert Chenin Chenin Blanc 2011 © Spaswinefood |
The last Chenin Blanc was a T Noble Late Harvest 2010.
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| T Noble Late Harvest 2010 © Spaswinefood |
The Chenin Blanc wines that I tasted showed lots of diversity. Obviously to get an in depth overall understanding of the range of South African Chenin Blancs I would need to taste more than eight samples. However, amongst the Chenin Blancs I tasted those produced by Ken Forrester's stood out. Not only because three of the eight were made by Forrester but for other reasons, such as overall quality and differences in style.
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| Three Chenin Blancs made by Ken Forrester © Spaswinefood |
Given that South Africa's Chenin Blancs are produced in so many styles this can present a challenge for review. In Asimov's
New York Times article in 2012 where he speculates about the source of some of the flaws his tasting group found in the 20 Chenin Blancs they tasted. My question is would a larger sample size have produced a different result. In the case of my tasting I certainly would have to taste more South African Chenin Blancs to form a more comprehensive picture.
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| Chenin Blanc Tasting © Spaswinefood |
The Chenin Blanc pre-road trip has begun. Who knows where the Cheninista force will take me. I look forward to continuing the journey. For a brief overview on South African wines see Wine 101: South Africa. You can check out my travels in South Africa and elsewhere at Spaswinefood.
Okanagan Valley, British Columbia
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