Everything That’s Royal & Romantic: French Garden Party with Chenin Blanc
As for the subject at hand, Chenin Blanc is (with apologies to Riesling) perhaps the most versatile grape in the world. It does a little bit of everything: sparkling, still, bone dry, syrupy sweet, stainless steel, new oak, young, old, everyday drinking, and once in a lifetime ascendancy. We’re limiting our scope to Chenin’s birthplace, the heart of the Loire Valley. If you want a head start, look to this fabulous introduction from the one, the only Jancis Robinson
Bill Jensen, sommelier for Michelin-starred Washington DC restaurant Tail Up Goat, and her sister Reveler’s Hour, is a breakout star of the Covid-19 Pandemic with his virtual wine school. In an effort to stay in touch with his regulars and soon-to-be regulars, he launched #StayHome Wine School on March 29th, and continued every Sunday at 4 pm EST for 40 straight weeks. In the very beginning, it was BYOB. Later, Bill would recommend bottles to be purchased at various wine shops. By week 9, TUG and RH reopened and local wine school students could shop there, first for bottles and later also for flights.
This was the first time we met Mary Taylor, of Mary Taylor Wine. We were all immediately smitten:
To be added to the newsletter and gain access to the class each week, email your request to: wineschool@tailupgoat.com
Notable quotes from this lesson:
Repeat after me: je suis féministe
I wanted to bottle Europe. I wanted to make Europe a contender in the mass market space without sacrificing the quality of the wine. And only work with honest, humble, good growers.
Fair pricing is part of sustainability.
There is a lot of wine out there waiting for me to find it
If you want to know the soil, look at the houses
Are you compromising the things you claim to represent?
This week’s poem was Let America be America Again by Langston Hughes
In Bill’s weekly recap email, he said this:
– VinePair gets you started with a style guide to Chenin Blanc from the Loire and beyond:
– Master of Wine Tim Atkin gives you another surface level treatment with a fuller catalogue of France’s Chenin-based AOCs: Vouvray, Montlouis, Anjou Blanc Sec, Saumur Blanc (where it’s sometimes blended with a little Sauvignon Blanc or Chardonnay), Coteaux du Layon, Bonnezeaux, Quarts de Chaume, Jasnières and Savennières:
– Vinous gives you a much welcome deeper dive, highly recommended:
– The New York Times article about Savènnieres I referenced from the incomparable Eric Asimov, “The Thinking Person’s White Wine”
– A look at Chenin in South Africa from the Wine Enthusiast:
– An interview with legendary Stellenbosch producer Ken Forrester:
– An even better interview with our favorite negociant Mary Taylor: