Celebrating chenin, the chameleon, global grape

Versatile, aesthetically ambiguous and cultish in its appeal, chenin blanc is the Tilda Swinton of grapes

My wine consultant friend, Ruth Osborne, often wears a cap embroidered with the words “chenin blanc”. As someone who is proud to include hats from Toad bakery and Celine Dion’s 2017 UK tour in her collection, I know all about headwear as a signifier of personal brand, and Ruth isn’t the only person in the business to extol the virtues of chenin. But why?

Chenin blanc shape-shifts with soil and climate perhaps more than any other grape, and it is this chameleon quality that sets wine enthusiasts aflutter, as does the fact that it’s a late-ripening variety with good acidity, so lends itself to a whole spectrum of profiles, from dry to sweet. Versatile, aesthetically ambiguous and, as my friend’s hat testifies, cultish in its appeal, it is the Tilda Swinton of grapes.

With up to 35,000 hectares of the stuff planted worldwide, it is a global grape, too. But, unlike the leading players such as chardonnay and cabernet sauvignon, chenin is associated with very defined areas. In South Africa, which grows more than half the world’s crop, it runs the gamut from mass-produced and affordable to premium and terroir-driven. France, meanwhile, has about a third of the world’s chenin vines, over 90% of them in the Loire valley; there are also small parcels in the US, Australia and South America, though you might struggle to find much in common between them beyond being broadly definable as “white wine”.

Take the Loire, where the appellations of Vouvray and Savennières sit just 80 miles apart, but produce chenins that are chalk and cheese (or, rather, chalk and schist – the rocks that characterise their respective soil types and, in turn, the flavours of the wines they produce). Savennières is associated with bone-dry, mineral and grapefruit-y wines, and Vouvray more for its richer, pear-ish notes – and for wines that vary dramatically in sweetness, which renowned American wine merchant Kermit Lynch describes “as a complete little cosmos of wines ranging from gay to profound”. Marks & Spencer’s Clos de Nouys Vouvray (£14, 12.5%) is one example of the former, while winemaker Peter Hahn’s otherworldly Clos de la Meslerie Vouvray Sec (see today’s pick) is all golden quince, mineral and, yes, utterly profound. In between the two, look out for Catherine and Pierre Breton, one of the larger natural wine producers in the Loire – all their whites are vouvrays, including the delicious La Dilettante Brut sparkling (£21.85 Vinum, 13%).

In his book Adventures on the Wine Route, Lynch alludes to a good vouvray’s kinship with white burgundy; the aroma, he says, has more in common with meursault (a chardonnay) than Californian chenin. But some chenins from farther afield also have about them a whiff of buttery burgundy – Stellenbosch producer Villiera’s Barrel-Fermented Chenin Blanc, say, is the perfect accompaniment to roast chicken, creamy pasta or cheese. If you want a South African chenin under £20, you’re spoilt for choice at most major retailers, but at that price point the approachably punk wines from Swartland producer Testalonga are the best you’ll get: their Baby Bandito Keep on Punching 2024 is round, zippy and crowd-pleasing in the best way. It might even propel you to go hat shopping.

Five chenin blancs that are well worth a punt

Reyneke Organic Chenin Blanc £12 Waitrose, 13.5%. Full, crisp and peachy, this is a great everyday aperitif for summer.

Testalonga Baby Bandito Keep on Punching £18.95 Buon Vino, 12%. Fresh, peachy and guaranteed to please any crowd.

Villiera Barrel-Fermented Chenin Blanc £20 Ocado, 14.5%. An aromatic, buttery beauty from Stellenbosch.

Berceau des Fees Savennières 2023 £25 Vinatis, 11.5%. An elegant and perfumed low-intervention savennières.

Le Clos de la Meslerie Vouvray Sec 2023 £42 Dynamic Vines, 13.5%. The stairway to heaven begins here.