New World: Chenin Blanc
2016 Gold: 2 Silver: 5 Bronze: 3 Commended: 5
2015 Gold: 2 Silver: 4 Bronze: 5 Commended: 3
South Africa has taken a stranglehold on this variety and continues to produce plenty of easy, palate-friendly offerings at commercially useful prices. Half our medal winners here were under £10, which is good to see.
Our tasters generally liked the more ambitious oaked versions, but had concerns over how easy they would be to sell to a public used to the typical Juicy Fruit style of wine. Moving up through the price bands, several tasters felt that a bit more of Chenin’s zip and freshness might not go amiss.
Congratulations to Kleine Zalze, who picked up a Gold for the second year on the trot, and to Stellenrust, who managed to upgrade on last year’s Silver with a seriously textured barrel-fermented offering.
FROM THE TASTING TEAMS
‘Customers know Chenin at a commercial level – it is up to us to take it up a level to oaked styles, which I think is the way forward.’ Zigmars Grinbergs, Vinoteca
‘I am not the biggest fan of Chenin Blanc. I also don’t see it as a big commercial imperative.’ James Hocking, The Vineyard Group
‘These are very food-friendly wines, Chenin doesn’t clash with much.’ Annette Scarfe MW, team leader
‘Definitely an improvement from a few years ago.’ Tobias Brauweiler MS, Hakkasan Group
‘It is a difficult grape as consumers aren’t familiar with it. For New World Chenin Blanc to have a place, it needs to deliver something special.’ Tanguy Martin, La Trompette
‘I was hoping for more purity of fruit. A lot were super-ripe, off-dry and getting fruity, very ripe.’ Laure Patry, Social Wine & Tapas
‘Some interesting wines, I’m going to look at taking more on. Really nice.’ Andrea Domenicucci, Whatley Manor
“I want purity: golden apples with steeliness, not milky bananas and New World Chardonnay fakes.” Devon Pryor, Blandford Comptoir