All right well welcome everyone my name Is Chris Martin I work for W SCT and Diploma holder master of wine students And I work in the academic team and then Their heads educator training and do Lots of training around the world for Our educators and today I’m going to Talk to you about one of my favorite Varieties which is Chenin Blanc and We’re going to look so I know that there Are a few of you who are doing some WS CT exam so this will be sorts of the High towards the higher level of that so If there’s some things that you you Think oh gosh do I need to know that for A level two exam probably not but in any Case we’re going to go through and I’m Gonna look at some of the key regions I’m where Shannon Blanc has made look at Some of the different styles and talk About a bit of the history and just sort Of put it a little bit into context and Then I’m also going to show you where Some of the regions in the world where It’s made where you might not suspect That it’s made and hopefully keep you to The ends this is being recorded and it Will be as Lydia said on the YouTube on Say YouTube on YouTube at some point in The next few weeks so let’s get into it Talk a little bit about the history of Chenin Blanc where when do we first see It depending on sort of who you believe And and all of that and the firsts the
Earliest record record of it was Actually from 845 when charles ii of France gave some land away and some People said that this was this great Which people think was Chenin Blanc Jancis Robinson doesn’t really believe It and she says that it was actually in 1496 and that it was planted there under A different name and where does the name Chenin Blanc come from I mean Blanc Obviously it’s so white produces white Wine so there’s the theory that it comes From a place in or shumlin so and we’ve Got some people from France so I Apologize for my butchering of your Language in any case it’s generally Agreed that the the grape comes from the Loire Valley in Anjou and there’s also The theory that it’s named after the French word for dogs because wild dogs Used to kick at it and eat its as you’ll See with challeng Chenin Blanc it’s a Very very vigorous grape and it produces Quite a lot of fruits and a lot of Vegetation and throughout its growing Cycle so here you know this is one of The one of the theories in any case Definitely the war is where it’s it’s Sort of natural home is and then it’s Sort of spread around the world in Particular in 1652 with the young van Riebeck with the Dutch East India Company he takes it to South Africa Where it is known as steam ste en and
Here it is sort of grown and it’s very Much here because it’s such an easy Grape to grow and it really takes off And it becomes sort of the the workhorse Grape of South Africa in particular They’re using it to distill into Branding and so here the the reason why And we’ll talk about this is Particularly because of its high acidity And relatively neutral flavors it lends Itself well to distillation this is also Then taken over in the 20th century to California and we’ll look at this with The large bulk blends there And it’s it’s for a long time it’s very Much seen as sort of a substandard Non-aromatic white wine that just sort Of does what it needs to do you know in In and and is basically just a sort of a Simple white table grape really or table Wine then really in the 1980s there was A big boom in Bordeaux and in particular So turn and lots of people got a taste For it so turn so so turn for those of You don’t know is very sort of sweet but Right sized wine that sort of marmalade Honeyed flavors that comes from Bordeaux And the prices sort of went up and up And up and up throughout the 1980s and Then in the 1990s people suddenly Realized that actually there’s a place In and in the wire valley which makes a Very similar style of wine and so we Suddenly start seeing an interest in
Coated Leone which I’ll talk about and So again these sorts of botrytis grapes And botrytis ice sweet wines and become Very popular there is also in the same Roughly around the same time starting Sort of in the 60s 70s as well in South Africa people sort of rediscover steen Or Chenin Blanc and and sort of see it Then actually that there’s a potential To make high-quality wine in this case And so we start to see really lots of Producers focusing on premium production Rather than on just sort of big bulk Wine it’s very much today sadly sort of Sits in the shadow of Chardonnay and Hopefully by the end of this you might Want to go out and try a bottle and see How delicious it can be so that’s very Much of just a very brief history of Chenin Blanc and so we’re now going to Just look at some of the characteristics Of it it is the aunt and uncle to Cabernet Sauvignon and it is the parent To Colin Bard’s so Cabernet Sauvignon It should be familiar with that and and Color balance is a very sort of neutral White wine white grape and that produces Very sort of high acidity neutral white Wines it’s used in cognac and Armagnac And it’s also used it’s grown alongside Chenin Blanc in the Central Valley in California where it’s used in very much Sort of bulk production Chenin Blanc is Early budding so what does that mean so
That means that it’s obviously buds very Early so we have to be very careful About the spring Frost’s because if the Spring Frost’s come along it will freeze The bud the bud dies there’s no buds There are no grapes and that sad times For for everyone gonna drink it so Obviously here this is just something to Be aware of in particular this is a Problem in the cooler climates so of the Warm it’s also mid to late ripening and Much of this depends on the climates the Weather Sun exposure and all of that and it Allows because we have this late Ripening it allows us to sort of produce For the grapes to increase in sugar Content which gives them the winemaker a Lot of possibility in terms of producing Different styles of wines and we’ll kind Of come back to to this it’s susceptible To botrytis so botrytis is again is this It’s called noble rot and that you might Know and this essentially sort of goes Into the grape I’ve got a picture of it On the next slide I’ll show you I mean It basically sort of revolves of the Grape down and what that does is it sort Of removes the water from the grape so We’re concentrating the flavors and the Acids into the grape and it also lends It this sort of marmalade honey aromas And flavors to it and it’s always a Generally a sweet sweet wine
Um I mentioned this that Shannon Blanca Is exceedingly vigorous and High-yielding this is the reason why It’s so popular in the production of Bulk wine is because it can just produce Tons and tons and tons of tons of grapes And unlike other grapes so for example Shards in there which is it’s often Compared to if you were to grow Chardonnay these these sorts of yields Then what happens is the acidity level Really plummets and you get a very Flabby wine and also the flavors are Just not there and when you’re growing Here I mean in the Central Valley it can Be up to 165 hectoliters per hectare and For the Americans there’s about 11 tons Per acre 8 to 11 tons per acre so it Massively you knows quite a lot and what Does happen is obviously the flavors are Slightly more dilutes than if they’re at A lower level but we’re getting still That retention of acidity It really doesn’t lose its acidity which Means that in growing it in the Central Valley of California which we’ll see It’s a perfect blending Partrick partner To boost the up sort of the acidity Level naturally of blends so I’ve sort Of a lead it to this amount we’re good We’re gonna dive into this in next few Sections or sections it’s very very Adaptable and though it’s home is in the Loire Valley which is very sort of cool
Continental it can grow sort of all over The place and in particular hot hot hot Climates and we’re going to look at as I Mentioned sort of the tropical places it Can grow towards towards the ends of the Session yeah but obviously it depends Very much on the climates the soils and The soils here in terms of if it’s free Draining cooling though so if they’re Free draining then they’re gonna be sort Of drier which means they retain more Heat so that obviously will play a role Into both the quality and the style so The the sort of Later we’re picking on these these Grapes and the more sugar we have in There so that means that we can either Make sweets style wines or sweeter style Wines or fuller bodied drier wines and There’s a range of flavors so well what Does this taste like and this by the way Is a Chenin Blanc from this picture here In South Africa so go to the next slide Um really again it depends on when we’re Picking it so if we’re going to be Picking it with relatively low level of Potential alcohol The flavors are generally going to be What we would expect from a source of Neutral white wine so green fruit apple Pear lemon the longer it can ripen and Remember it’s a late ripening one so it Can ripen later and later really the Depending factor on how late it can ripe
Is is it going to rain or is there going To be some climatic events which will Prevent us which would destroy the Grapes or or damage them in some way so That we want to pick before that so here Then we can we get sort of into the Stone fruits with pears Pete sorry with Peaches nectarines pineapple and then Even up to mango and you can see here This lovely delightful picture and for Those of you who have never seen a Picture of botrytis try Thais berries You might think oh my god that looks Absolutely ghastly and but there’s There’s quite ugly berries produce some Delicious delicious sweet sweet wine so Chenin Blanc is actually a relatively Thick skins grape variety but the reason Why it’s susceptible to botrytis right Is because it’s quite a tight bunch so It’s got small berries very tightly Compacted so it just takes and one small Puncture from the the fungus and then it Can spreads Crites quite quickly and it Tends to ripen very unevenly so there Are some great The the bunch of which ripens evenly so That all the berries on the bunch are The same level of sugar and acidity but Chenin Blanc is not one of those and Similar to and Primavera Zinfandel in That regards so if we’re harvesting them If we just sort of take the whole bunch We can have you know like in in this
Particular bunch here we can see that There is some I’m pointing to the screen But none of you can see me pointing so We can see here the betray sized sort of Grapes here and the sort of very ripe Ones here the ones that are this one is Not yet affected but we can see is sort Of starting to shrivel so we get a Variety of different flavors across even One bunch and so obviously harvest is is Important in that and I’ll talk a little Bit more about that in a moment Umm yield control is is really important So Chenin Blanc is not as high yielding A Sauvignon Blanc is but it’s more Fruitful and vigorous than shortening And so you we really have to control the Yield so if we’re growing it on fertile Soil like in the Central Valley or in Certain plains of Carl in South Africa You know we’re gonna get a lot of vigor And and we need to make sure that we’re Managing that so that we prevent rot and That we prevents sort of all of those Sorts of things that could could Potentially happen and old vines are Important in both to the war and South Africa I mean these are two sort of Premium regions where they’re being Produced old vines Similarly with all vine of any source of Grape and have a larger source of set of Permanent woods in their entire sort of Structure so more energy is required to
Sort of sustain their roots and trunks And canes and Spurs and however it’s Been trained and so that means that the Grapes and the bunches can be very very Concentrate In that case so as I mentioned training Here training it really depends on the Region the area the desired outcome After the after the wine it is most Often lays most often a bilateral cordon I’m it can be spur trains I will see That in certain places in the tropics They use the pergola system for Different reason and I’ll show you some Of that yep so um let’s move on then Just to look at some of the winemaking Options here I mentioned harvest one of the things That really it was source of I’m According to Oz Clarke of a sort of 1985 Is when the Loire Valley sort of went oh If we actually just sort of do a bit of Selection and choose the right source of Berries we might be able to make you Know some really interesting wines here And have a bit more choice and so in the Loire it is not uncommon for there to be Three four five or even up to six passes In the vineyards where where the Winemaker or the wine grower is testing That the berries and sort of really Almost berry selected harvests obviously It depends on on what they’re what They’re trying to produce as a result of
That that being said you know for the Big bulk wines that is not what they’re Going for they’re not going for the the Sweetest you know highest potential Alcohol grapes what they’re going for is Quantity so here mechanical harvesting Is often used they use a trunk shaker so They basically drive through shake the Entire thing and then the the berries Fall down and then they collect the ants So that’s that’s also in option and as I Mentioned in in some parts of the Tropics and the pergola system is used And that’s that’s mainly because It provides covering from the Sun and The heat so once they bring in the Grapes is just like any other normal White wine making here and they’ll get The juice off the skin as quickly as Possible sometimes you can have a little Bit of skin contact so what that means Is that there will be a source of they Will crush the grapes allow then the the Grapes and the juice and sorry the skin And the juice to sort of sit there and That extracts and some extra flavors it Also can extract some phenolic s’ and so Those are sort of like the tannins of White wine so it gives it a bit of Structure but that’s it that’s again It’s something that’s a bit more sort of Experimental in certain in certain cases Here skin con sorry fermentation Temperatures it really depends on what
The desired outcome is in in the Loire They they tend to go towards of sixteen To twenty which is slightly warmer than What you might expect for some white Wines the reason why is they don’t want To have a sort of buildup of some of the This is it this is unique again this is A choice for some producers but they Would rather keep sort of the fresh Fruit flavours rather than have sort of Some of these banana pear drop I Salama ISIL amyl acetate sort of aromas Fermentation vessels inert old oak You’ll see in South Africa and that they Might be using some oak and to infuse Some some flavours to it and a little Bit of oxygen into it as well to help The fermentation along but again there’s A whole sort of myriad of options Malolactic conversion so Mallard icicle Version is the process of converting Malic acids lactic acid is not often Encouraged again it much depends on on The style of the wine In my conversations with even premium South African producers they try to Avoid it in some cases it’s quite easy Because the pH level so I’m drinking a Nice 7y 2009 the pH of these wines tend To be below 3 so I think this I couldn’t Find the pH of this particular one I’m Drinking but you know could be around 2.8 2.9 which sort of prevents Malolactic from happening so and but
That does in some cases with the law you Know if it’s a particularly harsh year And they and they want to make a still Wine out of it then they might decide Just to do a little bit of malik just to Soften its Lee’s stirring is is quite Common so once the wine has been Fermented you’ve got the LEAs that’s the Purpose of that is obviously Preservation of fresh fruits it adds a Bit of body and texture to the wine and And this is relatively common in some of The some of the more premium producers Across the world really then of course We’re what do we do after we sort of got This and where we can stick it into oak New oak so we can impart some new oak Flavours and vanilla coconuts depending On what type of woods or oak we’re using Um obviously it depends if it’s first New second use barrels and generally These are more seen in South African Expressions partly because they’re the The wine is fuller it’s got more Pronounced flavors that can integrate With the oak or have an affinity to oak Better than the sort of light for more Delicate neutral flavours that we see in That being said if you go to the lawar You’re going to see quite a number of Oak barrels there but they’ll probably Be relatively old old use barrels that Won’t really imparts much flavor at all Seven-year uses for example
Not or acacia barrels in both of their Fermentation and their aging this Picture here is a barrel press from the Trap ferns in Stellenbosch so it’s a Very source of one of his very first Ones if you’re familiar with the trans So it’s just sort of open to the Elements you know I can’t remember Exactly the size of it but yeah it was a Lot of work we should imagine back then Um so this is these are sort of the many Different things obviously with oak you Know in some of the cheaper expressions That we might see in from olifants river Or certain areas of the Western Cape or Even Central Valley in California they May use oak alternatives so oak chips or Oak staves which give it that sort of Appearance of oak but slightly less well Integrated out flavors excellent Um so just now thinking about the Different styles of chemin as I say it Can be dry to medium it can be oaked it Can be uh knope’s much depends on sort Of when they’re picking its what is the Potential alcohol how much sugar is in The grapes what do they want what do They want to do with that style and when We look about the noir that’s it’s one Of the both the advantages and Disadvantages and to some of this Because you might go well is this wine Gonna be sweet or is it going to be dry And sometimes you just need to know the
Producer and it also has an affinity to Sparkling wine which shouldn’t be a Surprise really and it’s relatively Neutral and it can be you know it can be Picked 10 11 percent potential alcohol And it’s got higher high acidity which Is is the building blocks of champagne Or any sort of traditional methods Sparkling wine and we’ll look at this When we get to sell but here of course As criminals Come on the Loire is is mainly used with Option and Blanc so I’ll talk a little Bit about that sweet sweet dessert wines Here again these ones typically Associated with front of the water and Associated with betray tastes grapes but They can also be from just grapes that Have dried on the on the vines I’ll talk About the Triads the one who barrels Press we just saw does a fantastic straw Straw droids Chenin Blanc so he has the Chenin Blanc He sticks the mounts onto straw mats and I mean in South Africa at the time it You know the weather is particularly Prone to just drying the grapes out and So it produces a particularly delicious Sweet wine and of course when it when The the cases where it can’t produce Botrytis in certain areas again dried or Late harvests i’m expressions of it can Also be fans and i mentioned this before And though this is about wine but it
Because of the high acidity and the Eleven ten eleven percent alcohol you Know it’s very similar to the mini blanc Which is the production used in the Production of cognac and so it’s it’s Often distilled in particular as I Mentioned beginning it was often Distilled in South Africa to make Branding and make everyone happy dance So where is it grown um well you know we Normally think about Chenin Blanc or about Cinnabon we Normally think about wine grown between The 30th and 50th degrees both north and South and the war is 47 to 48 degrees North it’s a right source of at the the Top top ends of the growing bit here and South Africa which I can try to point Him I got my computer screen in front of Me somewhere down here I’ve been Pointing to it and is obviously down About 34 degrees south so right towards The top Two ends of it so we’re already seeing Quite a sort of wide range of where it Can grow and what I’ll talk about as you Keep alluding to and the tropics as well In particular the new laterals so um Let’s move to France the historical home Of Chenin Blanc is the Loire Valley Which I’m going to talk about it’s not Really grown anywhere else in France but One of the areas that is particularly Important to note is limo and which is
Down in the south which produces come on To the come on to the mon which needs to Be around i think twenty to forty Presents mission and blanc and so let’s Zoom in to the noir valley here so the Loire Valley is sort of this whole river That sort of goes from the Atlantic Inwards in the central valleys which is Is this green bit here and this is the Likes of Sancerre and this is the land Of Sauvignon Blanc over on the other Side here at is the muscadine which is Muscadet rape or the men on the book or Grape those are obviously the two Shores A big one seventy on Blanc Muscadet and Then sort of in the middle bit here is In our zoo in this area here is where we Gets roughly speaking if we’re looking At the white wines it is around thirty Thirty thirty four sorry for all the Grapes 70 on Blanc Muscadet and then Chenin Blanc is twenty seven percent so we’re Quite far north so we have a cool Climate here and but we also have the Atlantic Ocean here so you know this Area here is getting lots of the Atlantic Influenced a lot of the rain and as you Move in that maritime influence slightly Lessons and we move more towards a Continental climates so I’m going to Talk just about some of these these Areas in particular and just then
Highlights some of some of these ones as We go through so as you Cemil accounts For 48% of all the wine produced and in The Loire Valley so nearly half of it Comes from that and that’s both red and Whites so when it’s all g blanc or Summer Blanc and that’s Shannon blank And the the one here that is Particularly obviously of I mentioned it Is the Clement of the worm which is you Know Chenin Blanc and traditional Methods sparkling wine so traditional Method sparkling wine is the method Simpler is the exact same methods used In Champagne so second fermentation in Bottle and here it’s nine months on These so it’s a little bit less than What is required of champagne and but These sorts of high acidity relatively Neutral flavors give it a good is a good Base for good quality wine and you see Some of the big champagne houses are Also some of the big producers of Clement and Seth injure and in Particular so we’re gonna start up here In southern yeah which is what I’m Drinking now just lovely so this is on The northern slope here so it’s it’s Facing south and and basically you know You’ve got the river here but it’s a Relatively dry area and you’ve got quite A bit of sun exposure so the grapes here Can get to relatively high levels of Potential alcohol and sugar without much
I mean there’s always the danger of rot And all that but because again of these Winds that coming through it sort of Pushes it pushes the rot away keeps it The keeps it in a nice nice sort of area For everything for it to grow healthily And it also allows for some sort some Sort of organic or biodynamic so Nicola Joanie famously there’s quite a bit of Biodynamic farming here these wines tend To be dry and they tend to be very very High in acidity and if you drink a Seven-year that is too young and you Don’t know what acidity and wine tastes Like you will quickly learn because it Will just strip the enamel off of your Teeth and I think here this is when I Was doing some some research about this You know pH levels here can be about 2.8 I mean it’s just I mean obviously There’s a more to acidity than just that But quite a lot of acidity in the grapes They produce relatively sort of rounded Full-bodied white wines dry high acidity And and you get some of these lovely Sort of huh needs beeswax lanolin is This sort of fancy Dancy words sort of Wet wool flavors as we go down here into The lay on which is one of the rivers That comes off the river here the Loire And then we see the cote de Leon and This area here again what happens is During the autumn the temperature heats Up the this River which is very similar
To what happens is basically the the Humidity comes up so it covers the vines In sort of this fog which allows the Growth of botrytis or noble rots it Basically comes along and that source of Scratches at the grape variety or the Grape brother And then during them during the day the The sources The Sun comes out the fungus disappears And then you’ve kind of got these little Holes now in the grapes or the grape Starts to shrivel and then the next day It comes back and scratch the scratches And I mean you can kind of think of it In that way As for botrytis so it’s it’s generally Producing botrytis every year not Necessarily every year depending on on The weather of course and so obviously Here we’re going to get some of those Really nice sweet wines and and this is Where I also talk about the court Session which is one of the more sort of Even sort of the high quality areas and These ones really you know because of The high acidity because of the sugar Levels they will age for for four years And I used I did this similar smaller Presentation like this and I had a wine From Cote Leone and gave it to people And asked them to guess how old it was And I think some people say it was five Years old some people say it’s ten years
Old and it was I think it was eighteen Years old so it can be very very very Fresh on the palate and then over here Then and we have Louvre which is in That’s one of the more famous regions Here depending on the year it can Produce a variety of styles and from dry To off dry to medium dry the difficulty Here with Vouvray is knowing if it is Sweet or or not unless it says SEC so SEC means that it is drying and demi-sec Means it’s got some some sugar across The river you have month Louisa in the World and that’s just generally a little Bit of a lighter lighter bodied Vouvray That region is seeing a lot of growth a Lot of diam through dynamic winemakers Coming in and you’re seeing a lot of Them trying again that organic Biodynamic sort of wines Then we have so as I say criminals and Then yeah I mean this is lots of this Wine goes to Paris I think we had some People embarrass and and that’s that’s The people who drink it’s the locals Paris 21 percent of its is exported There’s a really small small percentage Unfortunately so I’m from the Loire will We will travel far south to South Africa And here we are on the Western Cape so South Africa is roughly in terms of the Area of of Chenin Blanc that’s planted Is roughly two times the amounts of Chenin Blanc that’s planted here than
There is in France for those of you who Like numbers is about 9,000 pictures of Chenin Blanc in the war and it’s 18,000 I can do math too 18,000 roughly in and South Africa and those numbers are Slightly coming down in South Africa for A variety of reasons Shirin Blanc accounts for 18.6 percent Of all plantings that’s from 2019 so Over the last year and 33% of white wine So very much is the source of white wine Of South Africa as I say it was very Much originally the workhorse of of this Reed’s been very much made for the Brandy industry but also made for just Here is some white wine what you can Drink so what are some of the natural Factors that we’re looking at here Obviously is is the Cape doctor so this Is a winds that comes off from Antarctica which is obviously quite Cooling um which is very nice because This are those just for some reason my Picture is sliced of this but and this Is about 34 degrees north sorry for 34 Degrees south here so it’s quite warm And so this this cooling breeze which Comes up here and I think you can see my Mouse comes up through here so there’s Capetown comes up here through false bay And with the the mountain range that Kind of comes here it’s just sort of Funneled up here and obviously as we go Further and further in that cooling
Influence becomes less and less and then Once you cross over these these Mountains here in Sepang then we’re sort Of into very sort of hot climates and Deeds so this is this is cooling Influence here obviously we’ve got some Mountains we can also you know plant in The shade of the mountains and we can Also choose which direction we’re going To be facing so you know traditionally In the northern hemisphere we want to be Facing south you know if we think of Burgundy or we think even of the one in Seven year we’re facing south because we Want to maximize that sun exposure here In South Africa you’re also going to be Planting south but for the opposite Reason because you don’t want to be Getting too much of the of the direct Sunlight sunburn in particular is is a Problem so a bit of a bit more in the Shades in this case so here you know There are some lots of lots of regions That are producing shouldn’t Blanc has Kind of grown all over this area just Above and Scotland and in some piles so This is all offense river and pile this Is producing and you’re sort of Generally you’re sort of more bulk [Music] Shanem dog and there are of course that Doesn’t mean that everyone there is Doing that there are some quality Producers Scotland is really picking up
Because here we’ve got lots of old vines And so lots of the producers even Sadie For example he’s really looking at some Of these old vine ones and really Thinking using the potential to create Some premium expressions of And of course we have to mention Stellenbosch so stellenbosch and this This picture here is and that’s Gavin Brewer from cuts in Stellenbosch so They’re also producing cuts is one of The sort of really one of the the wine Producers that’s really sort of having a Focus on Chenin Blanc in particular in Stellenbosch they put a focus on showing Blanca and Cabernet Franc Chenin Blanc and Cabernet Franc there of Course other producers as well so this Is there’s there’s as I say lots of Different things lots of things Different happening here in in sort of If you were sorted to categorize sort of South African premium shouldn’t Blanc it Comes in the whole range but we’re Thinking it’s going to be much fuller Bodied and perhaps a bit of oak in there Some more leaves during fuller bodied Tropical flavors a bit more fruit Forwards than we would with in the war But still have that that nice acidity Level that we would expect in Chenin Blanc so one of the reason one of the as I mentioned vigor is a thing that we Need to worry about or to think about
And so here Gavin is showing off his High-density Chenin Blanc Pat so this is An experimental patch and you can see They’re relatively new vines and this I Believe it’s ten thousand in and half Actually I have to ask you I can’t Recall exactly the number but it’s quite Very high density the idea being there That that high density should in some Way control the vigor because all these Vines are competing for the same Resource so again there’s there’s lots Of experimentation as I mentioned in Stellenbosch to trap ferns which is Another big producer and David is doing As I say his straw why not every year It’s just sort of a bit of an Experiments see what happens see if we Like it and you know it’s really Interesting they And again that’s one of the exciting Things about Chenin Blanc is that it it Can lend itself to this level of Experimentation and it can sort of take A beating and to you know do do what it Needs to do so this is this is South Africa um so we’ll just drop over to California I won’t talk too much about It because here and though it is around The the third largest producer of Shannon Blanc it’s it’s it’s probably The least interesting I’m sure there are Some producers there who are producing Some premium premium ones I say least
Interesting the fact that it’s is being Here used as a way of bolstering bulk Wines by making adding acidity and this Is growing in the Central Valley so this Area here and again here it is hot its Fertile it’s flat it lends itself to Mechanical harvesting the yields are Really ridiculously high again this term As I said 165 hectoliters per hectare or 11 tons per acre so we’re you know very Much high volume is going into lots of Those blends if we have any Americans There you know there’s Franzia they put It into quite a lot of their blends Cooks which is the sparkling wine and Andre as well also do that that they Produce quite a bit of that with some With some chemin events so those are Sort of the major areas it is grown to a Lesser extent in other areas Argentina There’s about whether I think is about Two thousand extras now in Argentina Again going into blends as a way of Bolstering acidity but those are sort of Decreasing and the areas where it’s it’s Having a lot of trial is in the tropics So um this Is please I can’t hear you all laughing So that’s quite good so this is in Indonesia on the island of Bali and and Unfortunately this picture doesn’t it Doesn’t quite do justice to it but this One here on the on the left hand side is Actually three plots three vineyards
That are in three different cycles of Growth so the one that’s in the Forefront is about to be picked the one That’s in the middle is just is just Budding and then the one behind it has Just had its winter winter pruning so in The tropics there is there’s quite this Potential of sort of figuring out what We can do or what they can do with it With these sorts of grape growing and Chenin Blanc lends itself because it is Relatively high yielding and it’s high Acidity and you can sort of control the The flavors of it it’s fairly hard you Know I mentioned that you know with Winds here so this is this one is I Think it’s about 30 40 metres from the Sea so it’s very close to the sea so you Getting lots of those sea winds which The the Chenin Blanc it just takes it Takes that sort of there’s that beating With perfectly fine and and can survive It’s so though this is in Indonesia That’s me with embarrassing with James Cholesky who is the the winemaker at Hattin Jeremy who is the vineyards and Tom who is the vineyards manager so Jeremy’s the winemaker sorry so you know There’s a really exciting stuff there I’ll talk about it when I kind of put You in a Blanc in context but you know If you if you traveled around Southeast Asia which of those tropical places Trying to get wine it can often be quite
Difficult and so this is one solution of Producing local wine and really trying It Thailand is another place GRANDMONT egg is a producer in the Sok Valley and they produce a very efficient Blanc so shouldn’t belong for them is Really it is really vital and it’s has a Lot they do quite an interesting thing To it they stick it for those of you who Know George and mine they stick it to Clear him which is this big sort of Amphora type thing Skin contacts I haven’t tried Nicky’s Latest one but it is called elements but They’re they’re Chenin Blanc is is Really good and again it’s it’s for the Local markets in particular for the Tourist markets and the other the other Producers are in India and Sula Vineyards in particular produce some Chenin Blanc and they use that as well In the base for their sparkling wine so You see here that the Chenin Blanc it Though we think of it as the war and we Think of it as South Africa there is This potential in what we would have Called the new laterals those sorts of Tropical and sub-tropical places where Where wine is is sort of they’re Experimenting and it’s really quite Interesting so I’m conscious at the time So I’m just going to briefly just sort Of put it into a little bit of context Globally and then Liddy I have not been
Following the the chats because it was Just to distract him for me so I trust That you’re doing that and then Lindy Can ask me some of your questions so There’s obviously variety of styles Which which make it really good I think That the positives of that is of course You can have everything that you would Like and the negatives is if you buy a Bottle of Chenin Blanc you don’t Necessarily know either the quality Level or the style of wine that it’s Going to be so it’s really important Unlike with Chardonnay if you get Chardonnay from you’re a valet you kind Of broadly know what that’s going to be If you get Chardonnay from Sonoma you Broadly know what that’s going to be but Here if you get a Chenin Blanc from you Know even from Stellenbosch unless you Know the producer you still need to kind Of know and and Can be that can be a challenge for for Consumers and as I mentioned Experimentation you know Chenin Blanc You can batter it and manipulate it and And do all these these things to it and It just sorta keeps on truckin so it’s Really goods make sure them Blanc great Again I don’t know where I got that Particular idea from but that was a call By some Psalms because it is quite a Food friendly wine and the high acidity The fruit Ford nasaan certain styles and
It is it’s generally sort of it’s been Underappreciated I’ve been reading quite a few articles About Shannon Blanca and and gamut the Way the red wine of Beaujolais as one of These two sort of unfashionable wines That people that Psalms are sort of Pushing because it’s price wise you know Value wise it’s it’s generally you know Even though for the lawar lots of people Still don’t know it’s you know compared To you know a bottle of de CEM Bordeaux she knows how much that’s gonna Cost you now but a nice bottle of co2 Lyon and yeah we might be relatively Expensive but it’s not going to be it’s Not going to be the price of some of the Top shadows from Bordeaux and the scent Of Blanc Association of South Africa was Started in the 1990s I believe in South Africa really with the push that sources Do research about and their website is Fantastic view if you want to really get Into sort of what inoculated yeasts are They using and what percentage of this And that and they do a really good thing And and they’re really trying to push And Shannon as a sort of versatile grape You know sort of all the different Styles range of quality again as I Mentioned you know it’s got all these Different quality levels so really no no The producer and I think it’s a great Alternative and it’s a source of you
Know try something new So with that conscious of the time I’ll Just quickly say that there are some Other ones coming up Um if you haven’t signed up or you would Like to sign up from some other one so I’ll leave that here um Lydia if you’re There if you want to ask me any of the Questions that are lovely people have Hello Kris thank you that was there was Just a few that came through I’m so Rewinding back towards the beginning I’m Gonna ask what were the what are the Best yields would 165 heights leaders They had to give a good wine so sorry Say that once more going back to the Beginning when you talked about the Yields and that is particularly high Yielding and and someone asked what are The best yields right with really high Yields of 165 hectoliters I hate to give Give a good wine yeah I mean I think What is a good yield is it really Depends on what what style of wine You’re going for and you know in seven Year with Chenin Blanc’s seven year Could be as low as twenty eight twenty Twenty eight thirty hectoliters per Hectare and that’s producing very sort Of full but sort of fruitful sort of Intense wines the 165 I mean that’s Really on the high end and my instinct Is that that is going to basically be a Purpose of creating sort of low alcohol
Acidity which they can stick into a box Wine so I would imagine there in the Central Valley there probably gonna be a Little bit lower than 120 but it is it Is a high yielding grape and even at Those high yields it still has some Flavor to it Brilliant thank you and someone else Asked about the tropics actually was When you’ve got a lot of questions Coming through people they fascinating Thing apologies if you answered when I Was making you know but they said can You get more than one crop a year and Does it not rain too much that’s it There’s a good thing so and the the Picture that I showed previously here of Hattin yes you can get three up to three Vintages in in the tropics because there Is no dormancy period so normally there Needs to be a dormancy periods so this This obvious Is the vine dramatically Annie they do I Think hats and I can’t remember exactly How many weeks they basically give the Vine off and what they do is they’re Just constantly are pruning it’s so sort Of forces the the vine to go into a Dormancy periods and then they just Restart it again So these vines generally where the Normal vine could be forty fifty a Hundred years old these vines will last About ten years old and then it just
Dies GRANDMONT a what Nicky and pursuits Do as in Thailand is they actually only Do one vintage a year and they do it in February so they time it to roughly two To the to the southern hemisphere and Then throughout the year they’re they’re Constantly pruning to keep to force a Dormancy as for rain rain is not a major Issue because there is pretty good Drainage with these ones and you’ll see That these are massive massive you know Pergolas I mean that I’m not that Particularly tall but Jane’s is quite Tall in this picture and we’re standings From underneath these vines and so so Rain is not so much an issue you see the Nets birds are an issue and actually the The major issue is actually it’s often Too cloudy and because it’s cloudy it Means there’s not enough Sun and because There’s not enough Sun it actually lots Of the grapes struggle to achieve Ripeness which is slightly odd you would Think oh it’s gonna be super ripe it’s Gonna have super amounts of sugar but It’s not just heat it also needs Sunlight and so it’s actually it’s not So much the rain it’s actually the Clouds cover that produced the grapes That sort of they need a bit longer to Ripen So that’s why they actually produce what We’re drinking there is as a grape Called Alexandria which is they used to
Make it a sparkling wine brilliant thank You yeah I can imagine that actually Despite the fact you think it’s warm it Kind of slows down difficulty synthesis And I love that picture of you I think One of the other images I don’t think You mentioned was the one with the Caliph or No with the big yeah that is in Central Valley but I cannot recall the the Producers of that that’s not one of my Business I believe it’s david ways one Of my colleagues show the large-scale Yes my didn’t speak to that but that is That’s sort of that those are all bigs For the storage of units of wine yeah And they are huge I mean these big Brands I mean just a couple more and I Think it’s probably time someone’s Chris Didn’t say much by the oak presence but Since the use of oak is a main way top South African producers are Differentiating their reserve quality Wines and wondering if Chris sees that As a possibility for other areas I think Yeah I mean I think the issue is really That people are not spending the time to Really invest in Chenin Blanc as a Premium grape so it’s really in those Areas people are gonna be ok is Expensive so if you’re going to put your Your wine into oak you’re going to have To commit to really supporting Chinon as That I think you know in the lawar there
Are some people experimenting with oak But it just doesn’t have the the Intensity of flavor to have an affinity To it to its so the ones in South Africa Because of that climate it does that’s Not to say perhaps that you know that There are producers in California or in Mendoza in Argentina and Uruguay is also Doing some stuff and they might very Well wish to wish to put some oak on it And I think it’s just about you know how Much are you going to pay for an oak Chardonnay from us are in Oaks Shannon From you know Thailand or Uruguay Probably not as much as it’s gonna cost To make its I think that would be the Main notion fair fair point Thank you I think that’s all we have Time for and pretty much us in most of The questions so thanks to everyone for Asking those questions and thank you to You Chris But fabulous Shannon update thank you Very much and yes and enjoy now I can Find enjoy the wine you know tell us Quickly about the seven-year I said this Is this is a 2009 southern year it’s in My fridge I didn’t want it to overheat I’m shattered over and so it’s yeah I Mean it’s just very very nice really and Again is the idea here is the 2009 so It’s 11 years old so we’re getting quite A lot of this sort of honeybees waxy Notes to its and and also I mean one of
The lovely things I love about Shannon Is the type of acidity that you gets it Sort of just builds throughout and Really sort of carries all those flavors And you get this light sort of almost Nuttiness and just on the ends and it’s Again the sort of beeswax sort of Texture to it so it’s quite nicely Textured and but I don’t know exactly How how long you’d spent on these or Anything like that now I’m jealous I Don’t have a glass of Shannon Blanc but You enjoy that even more than ended Thank you so much Thank you thank you everybody for Joining thank you very much