Looking for greatness in Chenin Blanc

Chenin Blanc from France’s Loire Valley: This is a connection of location and grape variety that yields some of the world’s best white wines.

Yet, as I’ve often complained before, quality Chenin Blanc doesn’t get the same respect – except among a small but happy niche of knowing enthusiasts – as the best Rieslings and Chardonnays.

What’s more, there’s been a serious drought of quality Loire Chenin Blanc at local wine shops, although happily that’s changing somewhat, particularly if I troll the shelves reserved for natural, organic, and biodynamic wines.

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As I observed last March when we devoted our WineLovers Discussion Group’s monthly Wine Focus on Chenin Blanc from the Loire Valley’s Vouvray and Montlouis regions, Chenin Blanc presents us with a conundrum: It is one of the world’s most widely planted wine grapes. But the vast bulk of all that produ…