I had Champalou Vouvray (imported by Kermit Lynch) on Monday night and it was fantastic. Realitively cheap, too, at $14 a bottle. I'm perfectly happy drinking it, but I was wondering if there's any chenin blanc grown and bottled in California that comes relatively close? Especially in the foothills or central coast area, where I'll be doing some tasting in the next month or so.
Vouvray covers an extreme range of styles from bone dry to honey sweet and in qualities from poor to outstanding. I have not had the Vouvray you mentioned.
Chenin Blanc has long been grown as a blending wine in California. It often has been used to add needed acid to white wines produced in warmer regions of the state. However very little Chenin Blanc has been offered as a single variety wine. Apparenty it is difficult to sell to the US public. I can not think of a recent high quality one that I could suggest. Hwever, since you may be in the area, some living California may be able to suggest something. I still have a few half bottles of Callaway Sweet Nancy(Chenin Blanc) 1977. This is a very rich and sweet late harvest wine that somewhat resembles one of the better late harvest Vouvrays. Despite the sweetness, it has considerable acidity as is typical. However it has a touch of a "clover" herbal character that is different from any Vouvray I have tasted.
Reply to snipped-for-privacy@cwdjr.net .
Pine Ridge made an outstanding chenin on the dry side as did Dry Creek. Christian Bros, Krug and Mondavi were the best of the semi-sweet--close to Vouvray style. Chapallet & Chaslone occasion made a bone-dry version--if recall. Washington had a few good chenin producers. A very overlooked grape IMHO
"joseph b. rosenberg" wrote in news: snipped-for-privacy@comcast.com:
is a very wine I will buy it if I can't get a good Vouvray. (and FWIW my last Champalou (2003) was not as crisp as I like it) You might also like Montlouis which like Vouvrqay is available in demi and sec versions
[SNIP]
Yes, Pine Ridge, US/CA/Napa/Stags Leap did, and may still do, a nice Chenin/ Viognier blend. Though not particularly in a Vouvray style, it was a very nice light, "almost" bone-dry wine. It sold retail in AZ for US$9.00/0.75 and is a great little "welcome wine." One nice aspect is that one can finish the whole bottle and not get the "edge" that most US Chenins seem to develop.
Hunt
Casa Nuestra used to make a couple of Chenin Blancs as recently as a few years agoa. You may want to check them out. Tim
Yeah, I like the Pine Ridge Chenin/Viognier blend too- reasonably priced.
Dry Creek Vineyards used to put out a very inexpensive CB (From Clarksburg AVA, I believe) that was reasonably tasty. Then prices went up, and quality seemed to go down. Wienstock and Vinum (also Clarksburg I believe) weren't bad either.
Lately I've mostly stuck to Vouvray and Montlouis (let's hear it for Deletang and Chidaine).
But I'm willing to try some more US Chenins, usually quite reasonable.
Forgot all about them, Tim. I brought one shipment from them into MD about
18 years ago--after tasting wine from about 30 wineries--my Italian wholesaler was looking to expand--I think Casa Nuestra & Melim were two the wineries we chose. Wholesaler was a "slow" payer and CN refused a second order.
I'll be the one to rain on the parade and say that I've tried this twice because 1) It was cheap and 2) I like viognier and chenin blanc both. The combination sounds interesting, but in reality I can't say that I liked it. It was very much a chenin blanc in character, but there was some sort of funk to it that did not sit well to me. I assume the 'funk' is the viognier. It's very much a dry wine, which is not what I would've expected.
Dimitri
I have found several Chenin Blancs made since 2000. They range in price from under US$5 to about $13, with only a very few costing more. I suggest that you consult the web sites for wines from these sources, when available.
Beringer, Baron Herzog, Ehrhardt, Callaway, Daniel Gehrs, Chappellet Winey, Foxen Vineyards, Chalone, Sutter Home, Husch La Ribera Vineyard. Also Hogue in Washington and Ste. Chapelle in Idaho.
At these prices, one knows that Chenin Blanc is not very popular in the US. You might even find a bargain among them, but I would guess you will find many very ordinary bottles. I would guess most of these wines would be dry to slightly sweet. No one could afford to sell a top late harvest wine from any grape at the prices for which these wines sell. If I could select from all of them, I think I would first try Chappellet, Chalone, and Foxen - only because these often have made several other types of very good wines. However I will only be interested in one if someone makes a top late harvest one again.
Reply to snipped-for-privacy@cwdjr.net .
At points in time, in the past, Chalone has done LH Chenin. Some years back, I picked up my allocation of three 0.375ltr IIRC. They were cellared for about
4-5 years, and were excellent. Not too cloying, and still exhibiting some nice acid. I looked for TNs, but cannot find any. If I do, or find a bottle lost in the cellar, I'll let you know. These were picked up AT the winery in Pinnacles, and, to my knowledge, were not available through normal retail distribution. Don't know if this helps.Hunt
bottle lost in
Hunt -- I wasn't aware of a late harvest chenin blanc from Chalone, but have had their regular bottling that came from old vines (I believe
80 or so years old), but belive they discountined this (along with pinot gris) and grubbed the vines to something more lucrative. This was the only US chenin blanc which had the weight and viscosity of a Loire. And it aged well, too. So the short answer to the original question is "no", better to look elsewhere IMO.Mark
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