Malu Lambert: There’s no stopping the premiumisation of Chenin Blanc

A couple of weeks ago the editor posed the question: “Does SA make too much top-end Chenin Blanc?”  Counterpoint to this, I’m of the opinion that premiumisation of chenin is exactly what we should be doing.

Commenting on the article Warwick CEO Christiane von Arnim said: “Isn’t that a bit like asking whether Germany is producing too many top-end cars and not enough Corollas?”

Or more to the point, is Burgundy at all apologetic for the eye-watering prices its top Crus command? The ed underscores how ‘Chenin has never carried the same prestige as Chardonnay – just ask the producers of Savennières and Vouvray’. While this is true, I would argue that South African chenin doesn’t have the competition of a Burgundy equivalent on its doorstep. It’s SA’s most planted variety with some 16,000ha out of a total of approximately 88,000ha of vineyard, and there’s no other country in the world that has much in the ground. Moreover, 15% is considered old vine (35 years or older) and there are notable quality connotations that come with that. A culture of premium chenin is exactly what South Africa needs to make a global fine wine statement – because, in simplistic terms: chenin is what we’ve got.

To explore this, I headed to Stellenbosch for lunch with beloved chenin personality Ina Smith, erstwhile manager of the Chenin Blanc Association (CBA). We met at Decameron Restaurant, one of those unassuming hidey-holes the wine intelligentsia like to congregate at. It’s said Dr Rupert himself could be found most days at lunch at his specially reserved ‘round table’.

From workhorse to backbone

Is there a more driven, progressive wine body than the CBA? Just think of the ground-breaking aroma wheel translation initiative where chenin associations were interpreted into Shona, isiXhosa, and isiZulu. Over a bottle of Saumur… Ina and I jump into what’s current when it comes to chenin intelligence.

A quick look at stats from SAWIS and it’s easy to see that chenin has been a crucial force in shaping the national vineyard. The price of chenin fruit per tonne has risen three-fold in the last two decades, as are exports of it on the rise.

Recognising chenin’s impact on the fiscal health of the wine industry Stellenbosch University in partnership with Winetech (going back to 2010) have made it their grape of focus with ongoing research, including organoleptic taste, consumer perceptions, clone research and so on. One of which is the fascinating ‘Chenin Clone Project’, a collaboration between AGAP and UMT Genovigne in France and Stellenbosch University. The goal is a full mapping of the chenin genome sequenced by comparing plant material from the Loire (chenin’s believed place of origin) and South Africa.  The project was dreamt up at the inaugural Chenin Blanc International Congress, held in Angers in 2019 – yet another collaboration between SA and France.

Their latest initiative backs the premiumisation play.

Billed to assess the value growth of South African chenin, the collaboration between South Africa Wine, Stellenbosch University, SAGWRI (a research and postgraduate training institute) and the CBA is chartered by Professor Melané Vivier and funded by South Africa Wine and the National Research Foundation (NRF) to the tune of over R4 million.

With a focus on market insights, the grape’s unique attributes, profitable production methods and winemaking strategies, the purpose is to address economic challenges in the wine industry. The multidisciplinary approach is said to seek balance between yield and quality as well as to enhance profitability. To collect data on this a model vineyard featuring 19 trellising systems has been established to test various scenarios.

“This project underscores our longstanding belief in chenin’s adaptability, excellence, and potential to compete internationally,” commented CBA chairman and wine personality Ken Forrester. “The market however will always be the final arbiter – and South Africa needs to support our mission.

“We’re waiting for the mothership to take off, chenin is not going to mars without it. As much as there are a handful of producers who are driving premium examples… until SA as a category has resonance we have very little hope of finding seats.”

There’s one way to book a ticket Forrester postulates: “South Africa needs to provide wines that are eminently suited to wines-by-the-glass in top restaurants around the world, like you would find for Bordeaux or Burgundy.  And I am talking $20 to $30 dollars by the glass. Until we fulfil that role we won’t be recognised.”

Turning theory into practice, Forrester is getting the word out. You’ll find FMC flying first class on Emirates, at Wimbledon, and at no less than 16 restaurants by the glass in London – clocking in at approximately £40 per serving.

“You can’t begrudge the market, the people that grow strawberries certainly don’t. The market decides, nobody is forced to pay R90 for a box of strawberries, but they buy them.”

It’s been a week of lunches for me, the latest was with SA’s preeminent wine writer, Michael Fridjhon

“Volume determines price, then ultimately stature determines price,” he says when I ask him if premiumisation of chenin is the way to go.

“We know chenin is not two dimensional, that as a variety it’s multidimensional – the more boxes it ticks along that horizontal plane of what attracts people to a wine the better. It can be steely and serious, or flamboyant and boisterous. Which gives it upward mobility in each of its styles. Therefore, it’s about the willingness of the market to engage with the propensity of the grape to give pleasure.

“But it’s beyond anyone’s control, the market drives premiumisation.

“You could influence it 30 years ago,” he relents. “We took it from the 1990s vision of bulk with no future into a space now where stature makes the call.”

Chenin with its adaptogenic nature is also a way to futureproof our vineyards. Writing for The Drinks Business, Patrick Schmitt MW editorialises that “Chenin could challenge Chardonnay – among other grapes – should warming trends in major wine regions continue”. He writes: “When wine experts list alternatives to increasingly pricy white Burgundy, the great, barrel-aged dry Chenins of the world are rarely mentioned – and yet they make a wonderful and viable alternative.”

It appears Château Ste Michelle in Washington State has been listening. In another one of Schmitt’s articles, he shares how the winery — celebrated for its premium riesling – is zeroing in on chenin as its next potential game-changer. He quotes their CEO David Bowman who says: “If there’s a grape that has huge potential in Washington then it’s Chenin Blanc.”

With clout like this behind chenin, perhaps in the near future the global market will decide in the affirmative – and with our wealth of premium chenin blanc we will be perfectly positioned to deliver the goods when the demand comes.

• Malu Lambert is freelance wine journalist and wine judge who has written for numerous local and international titles. She is a WSET Diploma alum and won the title of Louis Roederer Emerging Wine Writer of the Year 2019, among many other accolades. She sits on various tasting panels locally and abroad. Follow her on X: @MaluLambert