Loire Chenin Blanc: Underrated No More

BY JASON WILSON | JULY 23, 2020

One of the immutable, unwritten laws of wine writing has been that you must describe Chenin Blanc with one or more of the following terms: underappreciated, underrated or underdog. But the reality is that some of the most exciting white wines in the world are Chenin Blancs from Anjou and Touraine, in famed appellations such as Montlouis, Vouvray and Savennières, as well as from a wave of producers in Anjou who’ve shunned the traditional appellations and chosen to bottle their wines as Vin de France.

Chenin Blanc is often likened to Riesling, and it certainly shares that wine’s versatility, its zippy acidity, its expression of terroir and its ability to age. While Chenin Blancs on the Loire’s various schist, tuffeau or silex soils are all different, they generally have floral, herbal and honeyed characteristics with aromas and flavors of ripe apple and pear, beeswax, occasionally tropical fruit, and often a lanolin or wooly note. And just like German Riesling, an issue that has dogged Loire Chenin Blanc is its perceived sweetness and residual sugar. 

That sweet perception is partly due its own historical success. The prestigious world-class sweet, often botrytized, wines of Bonnezeaux, Quarts-de-Chaume, Coteaux du Layon and Coteaux de l'Aubance have long had their following among enthusiasts and collectors. Chenin Blanc is also the basis for the success of Crémant de Loire sparkling wines, the quality of which varies widely.

In the cave at Clos Nadine

But there is a relatively recent influx of dry Chenin Blanc, led by a movement of younger producers, particularly in Anjou, which some have begun calling “the capital of natural wine.” Despite the old guard’s eye rolls, there’s no denying the influence of natural winemaking in Loire, where so many top producers are now certified as organic or biodynamic. There’s also no denying the rising popularity of Loire Chenin among younger wine professionals.

Chenin Blanc is so much in demand that it’s being grown in parts of the Loire better known for Cabernet Franc. For instance, there’s been a resurgence of Chinon Blanc. As recently as the 1990s, only three producers in Chinon made white wine. “When I took over the estate in 2003, there were only 30 hectares of white in Chinon,” said Jérôme Billard of Domaine de la Noblaie. “Now there are more than 90 hectares.” 

For this report, I tasted more than 200 Chenin Blanc wines from several dozen producers. The diversity of styles - still, sparkling, dry, off-dry, sweet - is incredible. Of course, we didn’t taste everything from everyone in such a vast region, but I hope this stands as an overview of what is happening right now.

A glass of Le Rocher des Violettes pet-nat