A Tale of Two Chenins
Ξ July 21st, 2008 | → 0 Comments | ∇ A Day at a Time, International Terroirs, Tasting Notes, Wineries |
I love Chenin Blanc, have done ever since my family vacation to the Loire Valley in 2006 where we had some delicious dry and semi-dry Vouvray, however for this tale I’m heading to Chenin’s winter home, South Africa. The spur for this was the drinking of two bottles from the same vintage this month, Bellingham’s 2005 The Maverick and Rijk’s Private Cellar 2005 Barrel fermented – more on those later.
Chenin Blanc looks to have been one of the original grape varieties planted in South Africa as far back as 1655 when it was then called Steen (a name that still lingers on today in South Africa), but it wasn’t until 1963 that Professor C. J. Orffer from the University of Stellenbosch identified Steen as Chenin . In the mid 1990s the variety made up nearly 30% of South Africa’s vineyards but a drop in popularity has seen that fall to less than 20% nowadays, however the best sites have had hundreds of years to be identified and produce world class white wines, a fact that a lot of the wine world has still to fully understand. My first ever South African Chenin was about 2 years ago with Stormhoek’s “African Storm” 2005 Reserve and I have been a fan ever since.
The Bellingham winery is in Wellington, in the Paarl region, but the grapes for the 2005 Maverick were from Stellenbosch just down the road on the way to Cape Town. I picked this up last year from my local Waitrose store for £8.99 ($18) and waited for 6 months before it came out to play when we had friends over for dinner a couple of weeks ago. 
While it was obviously a well made wine, with a heady, spicy nose, floral and fruity taste and a luscious and smooth texture, unfortunately the oak was overpowering. For those who like a lot of wood then you’ll enjoy this as a 4-star, but for me a little less oak would have made for a far more pleasurable glass and so I’m dropping it into the 3-star range (feel free to add a half point).
Two weeks later and a Chinese meal required a white to accompany it. The only one that seemed appropriate from my drinking list was the 2005 Rijk’s Private Cellar, Barrel Fermented. This is from Tulbagh, a region generally overshadowed by its neighbours Stellenbosch and Paarl, although not as much as the 3 mountain ranges which surround it – the western Obiqua Mountains, the Winterhoek Mountains in the north and the eastern Witzenberg Mountains.
The influence of these mountains and the open southern valley with its cooling winds, mean some varied terroir and climates in such a small area which should be worth looking out for if the quality of the Rijk’s is anything to go by. This was the second time I’ve had this wonderful wine, the first being last Christmas Eve (with the same friends we shared The Maverick with) where I was blown away by its honey aroma and complex, zesty taste. Both bottles were purchased in South Africa during separate trips to Johannesburg, this one for about 95 Rand ($13) last month, so it didn’t have long to recover from the jet-lag! The nose was of spicy honey, and floral in the mouth, dry and thick with some oak throughout, and honey at both the start and finish. There were similarities to The Maverick but I found this more complex and the honey aspect was delicious, while the oak was restrained enough not to overpower. This was a clear 4-star effort and backs up my impression of its sibling from Christmas.
I see both of these wines as training for the final Chenin in my cellar (at least for the moment) - The FMC (Forrester Meinert Chenin), 2005. This Stellenbosch wine has become something of an icon and I was quick to buy a bottle when it was on offer at Waitrose for £11.99 ($24) at the beginning of the year. Whilst my heart is sorely tempted to open this up in the next few weeks to contrast with the other two my head is pointing out the 2008-2014 drinking window I’ve assigned and it will likely be a few years yet before I can compare notes – I’ll post a comment when I do!
Meantime I recommend you seek out this much maligned grape and see what it can do in the hands of a good South African winemaker, and then maybe buy some Vouvray and see how the original Loire Valley view of Chenin Blanc compares.
Greybeard.
