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We've all sipped some chenin blanc in our day, fine chenin blanc such as dry Vouvray, if we were smart, or all that California "chablis" that we swilled during college, if we weren't.
No other white wine grape exists that, simultaneously grown in separate parts of the world, can make a ravishingly electric wine like the Loire's Savennieres, as well as the blandest, most lifeless Central Valley jug wine, in flavor only one wee step beyond water.
Because chenin blanc is a true workaday grape and, with even a modicum of skill in the winery, makes an adequate wine, nearly every winemaking country grows some chenin blanc. In South Africa, it is a mainstay; fully one-fifth of all vines there are chenin blanc.
It is also called a chameleon grape for its ability to make wines that range in residual sugar from stone-dry to teeth-vibrating sweet.
As a wine grape, chenin blanc distinguishes itself in two ways. First, even though it is a late-ripening fruit, it can retain screechingly high acidity, its best asset at table. (If inadequately ripe, however, no wine is more harsh, nasty or hurtful than "green" chenin blanc.)
Second, that it ripens slowly and late into the harvest, especially in cool climates, allows the beneficial mold botrytis cinerea to envelop it, concentrating both its sugar and flavors, yet retaining its native acidity. Some of the world's most thrilling and longest-lived sweet white wines come from chenin blanc, nearly all from the Loire.
(Botrytis is a mold that enshrouds wine grapes given specific weather. It is beneficial because while it shrivels grapes, concentrating their sugar and flavor, it also leaves acidity high and prevents the incursion of oxygen. The wines from such grapes are intensely sweet, elegant and long-lived.)
While vagaries of climate matter to chenin blanc, even more so does soil or "terroir," the vines' all-encompassing environment.
On the sandy soils of Clarksburg, Calif., it makes for a light, fruity wine.
In Coteaux du Layon in the Loire and through much of South Africa, the soils are rich in clay and give chenin richness and weight; clay also boosts the work of botrytis.
The mixed limestone-clay soils of Vouvray make for famed chenin blanc that is at once round and rich, but built along a spine of tangy acidity. Some Vouvray and other Loire soils also boast silica and make for chenin that is even more electric.
In Savennieres, in the Loire, a gray-blue schist (a friable, metamorphic rocky soil) renders chenin blanc's driest, most incisive global epiphany.
When young, chenin blanc tastes of green apples, yellow or light red plums, sweet celery and, given the soil, lots of minerals and chalk. When it's been aged — and it is one of the world's most ageable white wines, upward of four decades — chenin blanc smells and tastes of honey, fresh-baked brioche and quince paste.
Botrytised, it takes on hints of pineapple, cooked green apples, ripe peaches, even cream and almond paste. As a sweet wine, it is less ponderous or viscous than Sauternes or Tokaji and often more zestily acidic.
Lighter chenin blanc is delicious as an aperitif, or with salads (if the wine is high in acidity, especially salads with vinaigrettes) or lighter fish or fowl dishes. Medium-sweet chenin blanc is a good accompaniment to cream sauces, again especially if the wine has good acid. Sweeter chenins, especially aged ones, are terrific by themselves. And young, vibrant, sweet chenin blanc is ravishing with foie gras or blue cheese.
All these recommended wines are 100 percent chenin blanc.
France and USA
NV Brut Domaine du Clos Naudin Sparkling Vouvray Loire: From younger vines, so exceedingly crisp and fresh; four years' yeast aging offers brioche-y notes. $35-$40
2009 Regis Cruchet Vouvray Demi-Sec Loire: Scents of green apple and white pear sneak out from under a heady, mineral-accented aroma; absolutely first-rate, off-dry rendition. $23
2009 McKinley Springs Horse Heaven Hills Washington: Big on "white" fruit (grapefruit, green apple) but lees aging also adds a grain-y hint; old vines, concentrated flavors, zippy finish. $15
South Africa
2010 The Spice Route Swartland: A small amount of barrel fermentation adds warm, ripe, yellow tropical fruit aromas and flavors to the tangy skeleton and creamy finish. $18
2011 Mulderbosch "Steen Op Hout" Western Cape: My favorite chenin blanc from South Africa because it varnishes the grape's native leanness with partial barrel fermentation and oak aging; nothing heavy-handed, though, just whispers of wood, lots of peachlike fruit and a long finish; also, a great price. $15
If your wine store does not carry these wines, ask for one similar in style and price.
Bill St. John has been writing and teaching about wine for more than 30 years.