Loire native Chenin Blanc is versatile and often profound. From powerful, bone-dry wines in Savennières, Anjou, Saumur, Montlouis and Jasnières, through all shades of sweetness in Vouvray, Coteaux du Layon, Quarts de Chaume and Bonnezeaux, its searing acidity can balance high residual sugar levels. Domaine Huet – the quintessential Vouvray domaine of the 20th century – still makes long-lived Chenins that have been known to drink well at 100 years, while the past decade has seen a new generation of natural-leaning producers, including Stéphane Bernaudeau, Richard Leroy and Clos Rougeard, forge international reputations with the grape. Elsewhere, South Africa has adopted Chenin as its own, where it now accounts for a third of all plantings.
