In 1655, Chenin Blanc traveled from its native Loire Valley to South Africa with members of the Dutch East India Company. In spite of the hot, dry, Mediterranean climate of the Western Cape—in stark opposition to the cool, wet oceanic conditions of northwest France—Chenin (or Steen, as South Africans dubbed it) thrived.
370 years later, South Africa boasts 40,000 acres of Chenin under vine, making it the world’s largest Chenin-producing nation by a long shot (in contrast, France grows 25,000 acres, and the U.S.—namely California—4,700 acres).
Few international grape varieties have proven as climatically adaptable as Chenin Blanc, especially in its adopted Southern Hemisphere home.
“We can grow Chenin on hills, valley floors, on [all kinds of trellising], often dry-farmed and in most climates and terroirs of the South African landscape,” says Rosa Kruger, the founder of The Old Vine Project and a Western Cape viticulture consultant through her company Myvine. “Even in the harshest of conditions, we seem to be making wines with depth and great character with Chenin when other varieties seem to show stress in the vines and wines.”
The variety’s phenotypic plasticity—its ability to respond to a variety of environmental conditions—is proving useful for Loire Chenin Blanc producers. The French region has felt the effects of climate change particularly acutely in recent years. In the last five vintages alone, Loire vignerons have battled everything from devastating frosts to torrential rain to extreme heat and drought.
In order to continue to craft the high-acid style of Chenin the region is famed for—whether sparkling, dry, or sweet—the Loire Valley must adapt. (Chenin Blanc may have phenotypic plasticity, but it can’t keep up with the rapid pace of climate change.) One of the ways it’s doing so is to study Chenin clones that have adapted to warmer, drier conditions, namely those in the nation it first sent cuttings to in the 17th century: South Africa.
“A more heat- and drought-tolerant Chenin clone from South Africa could allow the Loire Valley a substantial solution to preserve its wine identity, constructed over many centuries,” says Etienne Neethling, an associate professor and researcher at the Ecole Supérieure des Agricultures in Angers who specializes in climate variability within the wine sector.
Homing in on Chenin Blanc clones
Understanding which South African clones may best suit the Loire’s increasingly erratic climate and distinctive soil types requires in-depth research of virus-free clones studied over many vintages in a range of conditions. It’s a lengthy process that can take decades. Thankfully, research is well under way in the central Loire.
Clonal selection has been part of Loire viticulture since the 1970s, with two Chenin Blanc clonal gardens established between 1983 and 1998. Research was taken to the next level in 2017 when a new garden—a mix of old and new plant material from around France—was created in Montreuil-Bellay, just south of Saumur, managed and farmed by researchers at the French Wine and Vine Institute.
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