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Chenin blanc
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Chenin blanc
Chenin blanc (French pronunciation: [ʃənɛ̃ blɑ̃], lit. 'White Chenin'; known also as Pineau de la Loire among other names) is a white wine grape variety from the Loire Valley of France. Its high acidity means it can be used to make varieties from sparkling wines to well-balanced dessert wines, although it can produce very bland, neutral wines if the vine's natural vigor is not controlled. Outside the Loire, it is found in most of the New World wine regions; it is the most widely planted variety in South Africa, where it was historically also known as Steen (locally /stɪərn/ STEERN). The grape may have been one of the first to be grown in South Africa by Jan van Riebeeck in 1655, or it may have come to that country with Huguenots fleeing France after the revocation of the Edict of Nantes in 1685. Chenin blanc was often misidentified in Australia, as well, so tracing its early history in the country is not easy. It may have been introduced in James Busby's collection of 1832, but C. Waterhouse was growing Steen at Highercombe in Houghton, South Australia, by 1862.
It provides a fairly neutral palate for the expression of terroir, vintage variation, and the winemaker's treatment. In cool areas, the juice is sweet but high in acid with a full-bodied, fruity palate. In the unreliable summers of northern France, the acidity of under-ripened grapes was often masked with chaptalization with unsatisfactory results, whereas now, the less-ripened grapes are made into popular sparkling wines such as Crémant de Loire. The white wines of the Anjou AOC are a popular expression of Chenin as a dry wine, with flavors of quince and apples. In nearby Vouvray AOC, vintners aim for an off-dry style, developing honey and floral characteristics with age. In the best vintages, the grapes can be left on the vines to develop noble rot, producing an intense, viscous dessert wine, which may improve considerably with age.
French ampelographer Pierre Galet has theorized that Chenin blanc originated in the Anjou wine region sometime in the 9th century, and from there traveled to Touraine by at least the 15th century. The grape may have been the variety described in two royal land grants of Charles the Bald in 845 detailed in the records of the abbey of Glanfeuil as growing on the left bank of the Loire River in vineyards belonging to individuals with the name of Soulangé and Bessé.
When Thomas Bohier purchased vineyard land around Chenonceaux on January 3, 1496, several grape varieties were brought in from the Burgundy wine region of Beaune, the Jura wine region of Arbois and nearby Orléans and Anjou. One of these varieties, a white grape known as Plant d'Anjou, was later planted between 1520 and 1535 at a nearby site known as Mont Chenin in Touraine by the Lord of Château de Chenonceau and his brother-in-law, Denis Briçonnet, the abbot of Cormery. Ampelographers believe that Plant d'Anjou was like Chenin blanc, with the grape eventually taking on the name from Mont Chenin.
French writer François Rabelais (1494–1553) wrote glowingly about the white wines of Anjou, and mentions the medicinal qualities of the grapes at the end of chapter XXV of Gargantua:
This done, the shepherds and shepherdesses made merry with these cakes and fine grapes, and sported themselves together at the sound of the pretty small pipe, scoffing and laughing at those vainglorious cake-bakers, who had that day met with a mischief for want of crossing themselves with a good hand in the morning. Nor did they forget to apply to Forgier's leg some fat chenin grapes, and so handsomely dressed it and bound it up that he was quickly cured.
From France, the grape spread to South Africa, where it was most likely included among the vine cuttings sent to Jan van Riebeeck in the Cape Colony by the Dutch East India Company. In the 20th century, a subvariety of Chenin planted in the Loire was found to be not actually Chenin blanc at all, but rather the Portuguese grape Verdelho, which is banned from French AOC regulations in the Loire.
In 1999, DNA analysis showed that Chenin blanc has a parent-offspring relationship with the Jura wine grape Savagnin. Additional DNA evidence shows that Chenin blanc shares a sibling relationship with Trousseau and Sauvignon blanc (both grapes the likely offspring of Savagnin), which strongly suggests that Chenin blanc is the offspring and Savagnin is the parent variety. Through Chenin's half-sibling relationship with Sauvignon blanc, the grape is related as an aunt/uncle variety to the Bordeaux wine grape Cabernet Sauvignon which is the offspring of Sauvignon blanc and Cabernet Franc.
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Chenin blanc
Chenin blanc (French pronunciation: [ʃənɛ̃ blɑ̃], lit. 'White Chenin'; known also as Pineau de la Loire among other names) is a white wine grape variety from the Loire Valley of France. Its high acidity means it can be used to make varieties from sparkling wines to well-balanced dessert wines, although it can produce very bland, neutral wines if the vine's natural vigor is not controlled. Outside the Loire, it is found in most of the New World wine regions; it is the most widely planted variety in South Africa, where it was historically also known as Steen (locally /stɪərn/ STEERN). The grape may have been one of the first to be grown in South Africa by Jan van Riebeeck in 1655, or it may have come to that country with Huguenots fleeing France after the revocation of the Edict of Nantes in 1685. Chenin blanc was often misidentified in Australia, as well, so tracing its early history in the country is not easy. It may have been introduced in James Busby's collection of 1832, but C. Waterhouse was growing Steen at Highercombe in Houghton, South Australia, by 1862.
It provides a fairly neutral palate for the expression of terroir, vintage variation, and the winemaker's treatment. In cool areas, the juice is sweet but high in acid with a full-bodied, fruity palate. In the unreliable summers of northern France, the acidity of under-ripened grapes was often masked with chaptalization with unsatisfactory results, whereas now, the less-ripened grapes are made into popular sparkling wines such as Crémant de Loire. The white wines of the Anjou AOC are a popular expression of Chenin as a dry wine, with flavors of quince and apples. In nearby Vouvray AOC, vintners aim for an off-dry style, developing honey and floral characteristics with age. In the best vintages, the grapes can be left on the vines to develop noble rot, producing an intense, viscous dessert wine, which may improve considerably with age.
French ampelographer Pierre Galet has theorized that Chenin blanc originated in the Anjou wine region sometime in the 9th century, and from there traveled to Touraine by at least the 15th century. The grape may have been the variety described in two royal land grants of Charles the Bald in 845 detailed in the records of the abbey of Glanfeuil as growing on the left bank of the Loire River in vineyards belonging to individuals with the name of Soulangé and Bessé.
When Thomas Bohier purchased vineyard land around Chenonceaux on January 3, 1496, several grape varieties were brought in from the Burgundy wine region of Beaune, the Jura wine region of Arbois and nearby Orléans and Anjou. One of these varieties, a white grape known as Plant d'Anjou, was later planted between 1520 and 1535 at a nearby site known as Mont Chenin in Touraine by the Lord of Château de Chenonceau and his brother-in-law, Denis Briçonnet, the abbot of Cormery. Ampelographers believe that Plant d'Anjou was like Chenin blanc, with the grape eventually taking on the name from Mont Chenin.
French writer François Rabelais (1494–1553) wrote glowingly about the white wines of Anjou, and mentions the medicinal qualities of the grapes at the end of chapter XXV of Gargantua:
This done, the shepherds and shepherdesses made merry with these cakes and fine grapes, and sported themselves together at the sound of the pretty small pipe, scoffing and laughing at those vainglorious cake-bakers, who had that day met with a mischief for want of crossing themselves with a good hand in the morning. Nor did they forget to apply to Forgier's leg some fat chenin grapes, and so handsomely dressed it and bound it up that he was quickly cured.
From France, the grape spread to South Africa, where it was most likely included among the vine cuttings sent to Jan van Riebeeck in the Cape Colony by the Dutch East India Company. In the 20th century, a subvariety of Chenin planted in the Loire was found to be not actually Chenin blanc at all, but rather the Portuguese grape Verdelho, which is banned from French AOC regulations in the Loire.
In 1999, DNA analysis showed that Chenin blanc has a parent-offspring relationship with the Jura wine grape Savagnin. Additional DNA evidence shows that Chenin blanc shares a sibling relationship with Trousseau and Sauvignon blanc (both grapes the likely offspring of Savagnin), which strongly suggests that Chenin blanc is the offspring and Savagnin is the parent variety. Through Chenin's half-sibling relationship with Sauvignon blanc, the grape is related as an aunt/uncle variety to the Bordeaux wine grape Cabernet Sauvignon which is the offspring of Sauvignon blanc and Cabernet Franc.
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