Chenin Blanc

Given the range of styles this variety is capable of producing it must surely rank as one of the world's most flexible grapes. In France its heartland is the Loire Valley where it produces anything from sweet dessert wines, through medium-sweet and bone dry to the fine sparkling wines of Saumur and its environs. It is still South Africa's most widely planted white variety.

Characteristics: The very best sweet wines from villages in the Anjou region, with wines like Côteaux du Layon and Quarts de Chaume, as well as those from Vouvray are intense and immensely long-lived. The drier wines from this part of France are crisp, racy and with a fair amount of weight and a distinctly honeyed character in the very ripest years. The sparkling wines exhibit similar characteristics and represent amongst the very best outside Champagne. In South Africa Chenin benefits from its naturally higher acidity and in warmer climates produces wonderfully fresh, easy-drinking whites.

Where is it found?: France, particularly the Loire Valley, South Africa, California, Argentina.

Wines associated: Vouvray, South Africa where it is sometimes called Steen, Australia.

Food Matches: (Sweet style) Foie Gras, Fruit Tarts, (Medium-Sweet) Thai foods, Aperitif, (Dry) Freshwater Fish, Chicken, Cheese, (Sparkling) Aperitif, Spicey Foods.

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