Chenin Blanc and Food:

The pairing of wine and food in such a way that creates magic for the palate is a challenge that intrigues both wine-o's and foodies alike. It is easy to talk glibly of white wine with fish, or Chenin with chicken, but which white wine, and how was that chicken cooked? It is often the details such as fish with Thai curry sauce, or chicken with mangoes, that make the choice more difficult, or possibly even easier.....

Some knowledge about the wines is useful too. Was this wine harvested early and therefore lighter in alcohol, or is there some residual sugar in the wine? All this results in making a previously happy imbiber rush off to get a beer in sheer self defence. There is also the "I drink what I like" brigade and they can be seen cheerfully drinking Cabernet with their desert and loving every minute of it. At Old Vines we believe that knowledgable consumers do like some guidance and the wine press is ideally placed to initiate and encourage the debate as well as giving some excellent guidelines.

It has been very rewarding to see that around the world Blue White has been selected for a variety of cuisines. On Crystal Cruises it was chosen to accompany the fillet of Atlantic salmon or the creamed chicken with sundried tomatoes and peppers, while in San Francisco it was recommended with Vietnamese chicken and noodles. In New York it was paired with rock lobster kebabs flavoured with lemon grass and in South Africa it is a favourite in Thai and Portugese restaurants. The message that is coming across loud and clear is that the wine holds its flavour in a variety of different situations where others fail.

There are many reasons for this, first and foremost is the source of the grapes... the old, low-yielding vineyards deliver grapes with enormous concentration of flavour; flavour that does not disappear with a well flavoured dish. Secondly, the varietal has many flavours, never bold and forceful, but instead many-facetted and very obliging. You will easilly find citrus, ripe apricot, melon, quince and fig from the fruit spectrum, then come a variety of other flavours...spice, quinine, camomile, chalk and mineral. None are obvious or one-dimentional, yet a critical taster will cartainly find them, but always together with many other flavours.

A vital component when considering food matching is the racy acidity, a clean rapier-like acidity that cuts through the wine adding its special excitement and tension to the palate. This acid makes it an ideal partner for rich dishes such as roast duck or pork, fish or pasta with creamy sauces as well as a great accompaniment to vibrant fresh fruits and vegetables combined with meat, pasta or fish. Perhaps the most difficult of all matches is spicy food, those complex and intriguing flavours of cuisines from Indonesia, Malaysia, Thailand, Japan and the many cuisines of China. Often with a real bite from garlic, chillies and a myriad spices that play havoc with the palate, they are often even more mischievous with wine. Here the Chenin Blanc comes into its own, with its bright sunny fruit and ripe, rounded flavours and no obvious one-dimensional flavour to distract from the complex food, make it the perfect partner. If made from sufficiently concentrated fruit the wine should hold its flavour and compliment the food without changing character, and there are very few wines that can be said to match up to the challenge.