Chenin Blanc still first choice for spring

My Sauvignon Blanc consumption will no doubt be at its usual outrageous levels come summer but with Spring so far proving rather wet and chilly in Cape Town, I’m still opting for wines of more weight. Two brilliant examples of Chenin Blanc recently, the first Jean Daneel Directors Reserve 2006 and the second Post House 2009.

 

The Jean Daneel Directors Reserve 2006 won the Chenin Blanc Challenge in 2008, a wine that at the time caused mild controversy on account of it being particularly big and rich. It was a 100-case production which fermented and matured for 17 months in 100% new French oak barrels causing some to wonder if all that wood would ever integrate while others argued that the wine’s pronounced buttery character obscured the fruit.

I liked it then and like it even more now: the wine is rich but balanced and its fruit integrity cannot be questioned – there are flavours of citrus, peach and honey as well as some yeasty, spicy notes, these not overt but rather adding complexity. It’s one of those wines which manages to have breadth and depth but also verve thanks to a good line of acidity. Splendid stuff.

Jean Daneel’s credentials as a practitioner of well established while those of Post House are less so although wine geeks will recall that the 2002 vintage from this Stellenbosch winery won the trophy for best in class at the 2003 Old Mutual Trophy Wine Show. The 2009 is made in a restrained style, rather shy on the nose but the palate revealing concentrated fruit, bright acidity and well judged oak; there’s a good range of flavour including some citrus, peach as well some leesy notes – all quite subdued now and there’s the sense that the wine is probably a good three years off its best.

Two excellent wines and yet Chenin Blanc seems to be going through a rough patch with the critics. A damning review in the April issue of UK wine magazine Decanter (““Monotony, neutrality and non-existent regionality were sadly the buzzwords of this tasting”) , no golds at this year’s Trophy Wine Show and having just finished officiating on the Chenin panel at this year’s Veritas Awards, I can report that only two wines out of a line-up of around 100 wines have achieved double gold.

Three potential explanations present themselves: 1) SA Chenin Blanc is not as good as we all think; 2) the judges don’t know what they are doing; or 3) Chenin Blanc is an inherently difficult category to judge on account of its very wide stylistic diversity.

Having recently enjoyed the two wines mentioned above, there is no doubt in my mind that local Chenin Blanc is capable of world-class wine. However, precisely because it is not easy to understand, it will always be a category with a wine geek following. What’s vital is that the debate concerning stylistics is kept alive – the Chenin Blanc Challenge was begun in 1996 making it Wine magazine’s longest running competition and news that the Chenin Blanc Association intends taking it over is to be applauded.