The Various Roles of Chenin Blanc
Grapes can be like actors. You know how some actors have such strong personalities that you can never fully believe the character they’re playing on TV? Chris Rock, for example. It doesn’t matter if he’s playing Mays Gilliam in Head of State or Joey in Beverly Hills Ninja. You’re watching a slightly presidential Chris Rock or a Chris Rock showing off some ninja moves , but always Chris Rock. If Chris Rock were a grape, he would be Cabernet Sauvignon – popping up in different places, with slightly different characteristics, but still with a unmistakable personality.
Then there are actors like Meryl Streep. When she takes on a character, she is so invested in that character that you forget about Meryl Streep – for two hours your mouth waters as you watch Julia Child puzzle out recipes in Julie & Julia or you cringe as you watch Miranda Priestly in The Devil Wears Prada, hoping you never have a boss like that. In the wine world, Meryl Streep would be Chenin Blanc (we hope she doesn’t mind us saying so, given her affinity for Sancerre!).
Chenin Blanc has an uncanny ability to take on characteristics of time and place like few other grapes. In Savennières, where the soils are made up of slate and sandstone, Chenin creates a poised, elegant and mineral wine, tinged with aromas of nuts and honey. In Coteaux du Layon, botrytis cinera plays a supporting role to create lusciously sweet wines that many in France drink as an aperitif. Working its way east, Chenin’s next role in Saumur is as a sparkling wine: Crémant de Loire goes through a second fermentation in bottle, with a yeasty character from the 9 months it spends on lees.
Then, where the Massif Armoricain gives way to the chalky tuffeau soils of the Parisian Basin, there is Vouvray and Montlouis-sur-Loire. These two appellations are like a variety show for Chenin; a stage on which it can showcase its versatility. Sec, tendre, demi-sec, moelleux, sparkling… all of these are found in Vouvray and Montlouis, and all exhibit unique characteristics of Chenin Blanc.
Just as in the movie theater we are not watching Meryl Streep, when tasting through all the appellations of the Loire, we realize that we do not taste Chenin Blanc. We taste Savennières, Coteaux du Layon, Vouvray and Montlouis… it’s a grape of many faces, and it performs each role exquisitely.