Smashing Summer Chenins

Mention Chenin Blanc to any serious student of wine, and the response will be, “Oh, yes, Chenin Blanc, the great aromatic white wine of Vouvray and the Loire.” It’s an automatic reflex, regardless of how much Chenin Blanc (if any) the respondent has consumed lately. You might also get a mention that the same variety shows up in South Africa as Steen—or used to, before the South Africans started ripping it out to make room for more Sauvignon Blanc and Chardonnay. And then there’s another segment of wine drinkers, probably less schooled, who remember California Chenin Blanc as a great, slightly sweet, entry-level, let’s-knock-back-some-wine favorite from 20 years ago, before they moved on to more “serious” beverages.

Chenin Blanc has all but disappeared from the California wine scene, ripped out most everywhere to make way for other vines. There are a handful of holdout wineries here and there, and a few growers in Clarksburg, up near Sacramento in the Delta, who continue to tend it as a regional specialty. So when Blind Muscat came across not just one but two excellent specimens of this wine in a single month, it was clearly cause for celebration.

I tripped across the 2006 Monterey Chenin Blanc from Blacksmith Cellars in Alameda in August at the second collective annual tasting (the Urban Wine Experience) thrown by the East Bay Vintners Alliance, a confederation of warehouse wineries on the eastern edge of San Francisco Bay. On a hot day in a parking lot, the wine was crisp, refreshing, all those things you want from a summer white; and it had the most amazing mouthfeel for a wine of this type. Everybody bellying up to the booth remarked on the unexpected textural delights, which were not produced by the presence of sugar (it’s dry), alcohol (a tolerable 13.5%), or any particular winemaking trickery—just great fruit.

Now if Alameda is a less-than-famous location for a winery, try Castro Valley—out near Livermore, inside the Livermore Valley AVA, and home to Chouinard Vineyards for the last 25 years. The little winery has made very drinkable wines for years, dabbling on offbeat grapes, and has perhaps been best known for its delicious Apple wine—enough to knock it off the official wine world radar right there. Well, the 2006 Chouinard Chenin Blanc, also from Monterey, walked off with the designation as the Best White Wine of Show at this year’s San Francisco International Wine Competition, beating out more Chardonnays than you can shake an oakey stick at.

The wine just pops open in your mouth, a blast of Spring in a bottle. There’s some citrus and some honey and what seems like the slightest, slightest bit of CO₂ spritz. It’s a tad off-dry, with plenty of acid, and it’s guaranteed to wake up every cell in your mouth and put a smile on your face for the remainder of the glass.

Neither of these wines is likely to be at your local supermarket; Blackstone lists its retailers on its website; Chouinard lets you order online. Perfect for the last gasp of summer.

(Blacksmith)  Price: about $18. Alcohol: 13.5%. Points: A bunch.

(Chouinard)  Price: $14.75. Alcohol: 11.5%. Points: Ditto.