'It was an exciting and revelatory tasting. Peterkin has been at the forefront of chenin blanc exploration in his home of Margaret River since the first vintage of CBDB in 2013'
Original notes from Huon Hooke at THE REAL REVIEW accessed here.
It’s time for chenin blanc to take its place under the spotlight. At least that is LAS Vino owner/winemaker Nic Peterkin’s view, and to that end he has created an ongoing series of events named The International Chenin Blanc Symposium.
These have hitherto been held in his home state Western Australia but came to Sydney for the first time in April. Members of the wine trade were invited to taste 24 wines with Nic at Le Pont Wine Store in Milsons Point—chenin blancs from France, South Africa, New Zealand and WA. Nic has formed relationships with growers in South Africa who supplied their wines, that country being the one outstanding place where chenin blanc has significant history and pedigree outside France.
It was an exciting and revelatory tasting. Peterkin has been at the forefront of chenin blanc exploration in his home Margaret River since his first CBDB Dynamic Blend Chenin Blanc in 2013. He also makes the wine for Marri Wood Park, the biodynamic vineyard at Yallingup from which he’s sourced his grapes since 2018.
Others in the Margaret River doing interesting things with chenin are Tripe Iscariot, Wines of Merritt, Dormilona and Pierro (Nic’s dad, Mike Peterkin). As the Swan Valley has been producing superb ageworthy chenin blanc for many decades, several Swan Valley wines were also included and here the prominent names are John Kosovich, Corymbia and Faber while a newie, Vino Volta, was also included. Many other Swan wineries also make chenin, including Sandalford, Sittella, Nikola Estate, RiverBank, Pinelli, Olive Farm and Bella Ridge.
The middle Loire Valley, around Vouvray, Montlouis, Savennières, Côteaux du Layon, Quarts de Chaume, Anjou, etc, is still the chenin blanc heartland, producing racy, chalky, mineral wines of grace and complexity. South Africa has long hung its hat on chenin, with the Stellenbosch and Swartland regions producing more ‘worked’, rich, multi-layered styles.
Chenin is adaptable: it can be produced as a sweet, semi-sweet, dry or sparkling wine, and is susceptible to botrytis which can result in another face of chenin blanc, but even the dry wines can be cast in a multitude of styles, as this tasting showed.
The vintage under the microscope was 2018, although several other vintages of LAS Vino were also poured. My next article (tomorrow) will look at Nic Peterkin’s exciting and highly original experience of chenin.
My tasting notes are available now. This is the list of wines tasted, in order of my preference for them:
Demorgenzon Reserve 2018
LAS Vino 2018
LAS Vino 2023
Ken Forrester the FMC 2018
Château de Fesles La Chapelle Anjou Blanc 2018
Thibaud Boudignon Anjou Blanc 2018
LAS Vino 2020
LAS Vino 2016
John Kosovich “Mara” 2018
Pierro Nunc Tempus Est 2018
Damien Laureau La Petite Roche Savennières 2018
Domaine Guiberteau Saumur Blanc les Moulins 2018
Corymbia Rocket’s Vineyard 2018
Dormilona 2018
Vino Volta Nothing Wrong With Old School Chenin 2018
tripe.Iscariot Absolution Karridale Dry 2018
Faber Vineyard 2018
tripe.Iscariot Absolution Wilyabrup Dry 2018
Marriwood Park 2018
Millton Te Arai Vineyard 2018
LAS Vino 2013
Kaapzicht 1947 2018
Wines of Merritt Single Vineyard Small Batch 2018
David & Nadia Sadie 2018
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