Please help me love Chenin Blanc

Your palate isn’t static. I’d simply recommend keeping an open mind, and continue to try CB when opportunities come around down the road.

Some interesting comments here. To me, high quality Chenin has a very strong varietal character (as is true for Syrah as long as it isn’t grown somewhere too hot, which tends to obliterate varietal character in any international variety). I would think some people just don’t like it. Even with that, there’s a pretty broad range of styles. To taste a range of styles of table wine (I would leave sweet and sparkling out of it for now) at high levels of quality, I would recommend trying all of the following wines. If you don’t like any of these, you don’t like Chenin.

-Botanica Chenin Blanc, South Africa (or other high quality SA Chenin, not a cheap one and not one of the overoaked ones from Ken Forrester)
-Huet Vouvray Sec and Demi-Sec – any vineyard (or substitute either Vigneau-Chevreau for the Sec)
-Chidaine Montlouis – any, maybe depending on whether you want dry or off-dry
-Collier or Guiberteau Saumur Blanc – entry level or single vineyard; these aren’t the same style, but they both are similarly distinctive from these other wines
-Baumard Savennieres
(- Foreau Vouvray Sec – different style again, but probably only worth trying if you’ve liked some of these others)

Just chiming in to let the OP he is not alone.

I have tried to love Chenin Blanc for 25+ years. There have been a few bottles (e.g. very old sweet Huet, some middle aged dry Huet), but the “hit rate” for me is well under 10%. So I pretty much quit bothering with it, as I prefer Riesling (dry to sweet), Gruner Veltliner, Chardonnay, etc. to such a degree that the investment in experiments just does not make sense. I still have a few bottles in the cellar from my forays into Chenin, but have almost zero interest in drinking them. I don’t hate the grape (unlike Sauvignon Blanc, which I actively dislike), but it does not do anything for me.

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Try some older Huet - sparkling, dry, semi-dry, sweet - with some age on them. If you still do not like Chenin Blanc, give up.

Time travel is always an epiphany. champagne.gif

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A crazy value is the Raats Original Unoaked Chenin Blanc. It’s around $13 and is a truly stoopid QPR, quite tasty.

Another new world Chenin worth trying is our very own William Kelley’s Beau Rivage, which is around $28. Among order of my faves, are 2019, 2017 and then the very lean 2018 that is like 11.5% ABV.

I generally buy Loire, but these are excellent buys in their own right.

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Oh dear. What a wally!

Thanks Jayson for pointing that out!

I’d like to be able to quip that I’m Doctor Who, but the sad truth is that I’m just an old wino talking his usual codswallop! So it must have been the late 90s after all.

Anyway, to go back to the original subject, it is possible to change one’s appreciation of a wine - I spent decades thinking that Sociando-Mallet was nothing special until that particular Road to Damascus moment sometime around five years ago!

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Why? You’ve tried several types and have opinions on them.

One cannot like every variety. If you like some, then by definition you like their attributes so probably dislike varieties without those attributes.

Every time you have a Chenin you don’t like you are denying yourself a wine that you do like.

As Jim Brennan says, one’s palate changes with time. You may at some time in the future love Chenin.

(for the record I love Chenin, prefer it to Chardonnay, and I think Chenin makes a great sparkling wine too!)

Not sure about availability in the USA but Mullineux makes some excellent CB in south africa.

Thanks for all the great suggestions everyone! Some posters asked why I am interested in liking Chenin at all, since I have had examples and been underwhelmed. The reason is that everything I read about it seems like it is a grape that should be up my alley. I have made my peace with not being crazy about California Cabernet, Aussie Shiraz, most Southern Rhone reds. All of these can be nice, but they are just not my style. On the other hand, I really like cool climate Chardonnay, all styles of Riesling, Gruner, Sancerre, Champagne; seems like Chenin should fit the bill!

Seems like Huet is the way to go. I popped the cork on a 2014 Huet Petillant Brut given recommendations here (I happened to have it sitting in the back of the fridge) and I was again disappointed. It was ok, but nothing special. Tasted like a mediocre Champagne with too heavy of a dosage and weak carbonation. I’ll try some a couple older bottles Huet and maybe something from S Africa. If that doesn’t do it for me, I’ll return to the Mosel!

In the meantime, please keep the recs coming!!!

Returning to the Mosel can never be a bad thing.

Try a Ken Forrester “The FMC” from SA. It’s an oaked and heavier CB and a wonderful expression of the grape at a easy price. On the SA front, Sadie Family’s single vineyard wines (Skurfberg etc.) are outstanding but hard to source. Mullineux is another wonderful producer. Then again these aren’t cool climate Chard or Gruner. SA Chenin competes against white Rhones in terms of pairing for me.

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I am a big CB fan but also never really was impressed by the bubble ones. A bit like Cremant de Bourgogne or Alsace: it’s ok but the region specializing in it (I.e. champagne) makes better stuff. So, I wouldn’t give up based on that bottle.

We just had an ‘89 Huet Clos du Bourg 1ere Trie with panfried skate in a lemon-caper sauce and that was just divine. Huet takes some time to start singing, but when it does it’s world class.

I can also second the South African recommendations, which can be enjoyed a bit younger. We had some Brookdale recently which was divine. Not sure if you can find it on your side of the pont but if you can, give it a try!

Looks like Berserker Day is going to be chockfull of Chenin. Anyone taste from the participants and have thoughts? Looks interesting - I’m intrigued.

I would recommend to check out Beau Rivage.

Here’s my last note on the 2017 from 12/2020 - I WROTE: 94 points
"Tasted with the winemaker, this bottle was chilled then opened and consumed around 55-60*F, which would be preferable to a colder temp.

I’ve had 5 or so bottles of the 2017 and this was solidly the best experience by a point or two. The nose is expressive and just nearly smells like chardonnay with clean linen, pear and white peach. On the palate, you have more typical Chenin flavors of honey and orchard fruit. At 11.8% alcohol, it comes across the palate like a Saumur blanc, with richness, minerals and some chalky extract. The winemaker thought it could be improved upon by lowering yields to further intensify and lengthen the finish. I’ll have to take his word but did not find it to suffer from a lack of depth.

Apparently the fruit is from a humble source, but the choices in the vineyard and cellar, from picking blocks, organic farming, lees contact, and neutral cooperage make this one of the best young Chenins I’ve ever tasted. Equal in quality to Sandlands in my personal view, if a bit more of an “old world” expression. I can’t wait to restock."

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If there is a chance that you could like it, start with Didier Dagueneau and go from there.

Noah,

What are some specific white wines you already like & really appreciate (producers, regions, etc)?

That will help get you to the right place in my mind.

The answer is Savennieres but you need to age it for 6-7 years (it will hold for many years more than that usually). If you need confirmation split a bottle of something like a Joly Coullee de Serreant (with enough friends to pay for it) and then open a bottle of aged Baumard or Closel.

yikes, no. Joly is, um, like Forrest Gump’s box of chocolates.

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I’m not going to make you do anything you don’t want to do.
Been there, done that - there’s no thanks to that charge.
If you have tried chenin blanc but don’t seem to “get it”, don’t worry, there are other grapes for you, try a timmarasso instead (thicker, more Rhone-like) and see if it floats your boat. Don’t beat yourself up.