100% Chenin Blanc. The modern renaissance of Chenin de Brézé (as it was once known) owes a great deal to the Foucault brothers’ Brézé bottling and, more recently, to a new generation of growers like Guiberteau. This striking wine comes from two small parcels of mature vines (planted in 1933 and 1952) within the fabled Brézé climat, a terroir that once produced wines as revered as those of the greatest vineyards of Burgundy and Bordeaux. The lion’s share of the fruit comes from an important lieu-dit called Bourguenne, while one-quarter of the fruit is also drawn from the historic Clos de Carmes terroir.

Guiberteau now uses larger-format barrels from different coopers. He prefers Atelier Centre France’s thick-staved demi-muids for this wine, and he’s also engaged Clos Rougeard’s local artisan cooper Dussiaux, whose barrels bring smoky/cedary complexity to this wine in its youth. Furthermore, Brézé now spends two years in barrel (50% new) and six months in tank, recognising its potency and coiled energy.

Year in and year out, this reminds us of the force of this incredible terroir. This place can simultaneously deliver the texture and savoury reduction of great white Burgundy and the raciness of great German Riesling. If the Clos de Guichaux calls to mind excellent Chablis, the Brézé style leans towards the textural richness of fine Meursault (at a fraction of the price).

Organic. Chenin Blanc. This small, enigmatic vineyard-cum-appellation on the north bank of the Loire River traces its roots back to the Cistercian monks of the 12th century, who, for good measure, also planted the legendary Coulée de Serrant next door. Its name, The Monks’ Rock, also refers to the schist bedrock and soils littered with volcanic rocks. Tessa Laroche is one of only 12 vignerons to own a parcel in this prestigious vineyard that sits high atop the wider Savennières appellation.

The wines of Roche-aux-Moines once produced what became a house wine in the court of Napoleon Bonaparte, and today, Tessa Laroche reminds us why Savennières was once considered among the most prized French wines. To reach this plateau, Laroche declassifies the fruit from any younger vines and yields are kept extremely low, usually around 30 hl/ha. Even then, the grapes are harvested at perfect ripeness over a series of six tris or pickings.

In the cellar, the grapes ferment through indigenous yeasts and the wines age for 18 months on lees in a mixture of used barrels (220 and 400-litre) and 20-hectolitre foudre. Unlike in the past, it undergoes full malolactic conversion every year, and the only sulphur addition takes place at bottling. The resulting wine is, to quote Jon Bonné (The New French Wine), “a case study in Chenin Blanc intensity”.

From a year Tessa Laroche rates as her most successful to date, the 2022 is a true terroir wine—with all guns blazing. Climbing out of the glass, the delightfully fleshy Chenin fruit is complemented by flecks of the flinty, dark-hued minerality that helps make this vineyard so distinctive. Laroche’s wines take less time to blossom than those made by her mother, Monique, yet this vintage could easily age, with benefits, for 10+ years.

Perched on the Première Côte just above the town of Vouvray, Clos du Bourg is a monopole and generally regarded as the greatest of the three Huet single vineyards. The domaine has farmed it since 1953 and purchased it in 1963. Clos du Bourg is arguably the greatest vineyard in the region, producing some of the most powerful, thrilling, long-lived white wines in Europe. With only one metre of topsoil over solid limestone, the vines tap almost immediately into the mineral resources underneath. The warmth of the site, combined with the mineral complexion of the soils, results in rich, super long-lived wines that seem to effortlessly combine intense minerality with generous texture and concentration.

When young, these dry wines are pent-up, intense, mineral (chalky and/or smoky-fresh) whites that are wonderfully pure and racy. With age, the top examples mature at a snail’s pace to become some of the most intriguing dry whites on the planet. They go from the white flowers, citrus pith and crunchy fruit of youth to something deliciously honeyed, buttery, savoury and autumnal. The younger examples are go-to wines for anything involving seafood or white meat. For the technically minded, Huet’s secs have between 4 and 8 g/L residual sugar depending on the vintage, although the 2022 and 2023 wines dipped closer to the 3 g/L mark.

Organic. Over the years, this iconic white has emerged as one of the Loire Valley's most exciting Chenin Blancs. Fruit for l'Insolite traditionally comes from two densely planted vineyards on clay and limestone soils riddled with sandstone and flint. The oldest vines are 90 years old. These lieux-dits—Les Cerpes and Saint-Vincent—lie close to the town of Saumur. In recent years, the wine has included fruit from several other limestone dotted around the commune.

Germain slowly presses the bunches before the juice ferments naturally in 1,200-litre Stockinger ovals and 600-litre casks (ex-Alphonse Mellot). The wine rests on fine lees for another 12 months, slowly building texture before bottling. Germain thinks of this wine as the Loire's answer to German Riesling, hence the name, which means 'unusual'. It’s another wonderful release, rippling with fleshy stone fruit texture, citrus pith, smoky minerality and a food-friendly phenolic bite. The finish is vinous and sappy with a punchy, taut, gently powdery structure and salty mineral close—the hallmark of this iconic wine.

Stellenbosch. Sadie has been working with Chenin off this “truly incredible” granite vineyard since 2006. It sits at 220 metres on the foot of Bothmaskop Mountain in Stellenbosch’s Jonkershoek Valley. With most of the vines planted between 1905 and 1920, the mere one hectare (belonging to Mrs Kirsten and her family) is the oldest Chenin Blanc in South Africa. Due to the age of the vines, Sadie has been interplanting mass-selection cuttings to prolong the vineyard’s life, though the younger vines are vinified separately. In time, the younger fraction will also be included in the blend.

Eben describes this hyper-rare wine as his most powerful and structured Chenin Blanc, juxtaposing silky elegance with immense texture, density and power. It fermented in an old foudres with lots of solids and was bottled unfiltered after 12 months of aging. According to its maker, “the acidity in this 2024 vintage is fresher than usual, and it is an absolute textbook vintage for this vineyard,” and Eben urges drinkers to give this wine the benefit of time in the bottle, noting it needs a decade to reveal its full potential. If you can’t wait, a decanter will help! In a word: epic. 

William Kelley is better known as the Wine Advocate's mould-breaking wine critic. Yet he is also a very gifted winemaker and now, winegrower. Kelley’s micro-Burgundy project released its first wines from the 2019 vintage, and the ambitious pricing has not dampened the fervour—the wines are as remarkable as they are rare. Yet Kelley’s first foray into winemaking did not start in Beaune, Pommard or Gevrey-Chambertin but in the quiet, pastoral AVA of Clarksburg on the outskirts of Sacramento.

Rolling back to 2016, Kelley recalls that he and friend-slash-business partner Frank Ingriselli were looking for organically farmed old vines in Californian sub-regions where variety aligned with climate, which led them to Chenin in Clarksburg. “We then applied artisanal French winemaking techniques and sort of waited to see what happened,” he recalls. What happened is that Beau Rivage promptly reset the conversation around the potential to craft world-class Chenin Blanc from Californian soils.

Made in Calistoga, this increasingly impressive Chenin Blanc is drawn from some of Clarksburg’s oldest vines, planted in the 1960s and sourced from a long-term organic grower. The grapes are picked in two lots: those from the sunny side of the vine were crushed to release extract, while fruit from the shadier side was pressed as whole clusters using a very long, firm cycle. The musts are fermented with indigenous yeasts and were raised in eight-year-old, low-toast Burgundy barrels.

William Kelley uses more and more solids each year, with the wine building texture and drive from its time on lees. Expect a tension-filled and chalky white marrying the engaging texture of well-ripened Chenin Blanc with lovely clarity, fine-boned texture and impressive length. It doesn’t seem too early to call this out as a new Californian benchmark for the variety.

This is just the third release of Spinifex’s Chenin Blanc, but these vines have been around for almost a century. Pete and Magali have been working with the old bush-vine Grenache and Shiraz from this ancient site in the Angaston foothills for well over 10 years, all the while eyeing an opportunity with the small Chenin block on the property. They harvested their first crop in 2022, and the wine is now a tenured addition to the Spinifex portfolio.

The one-acre block is nestled at the highest point of the vineyard. The exact age of the vines is unknown, but it’s widely accepted that these gnarly, dry-grown vines are tipping the 90- to 100-year-old mark. Even in ideal growing conditions, a tonne of fruit is about the best yield you could hope for from the entire block. The Chenin holds natural breadth and intensity of flavour, so Pete picks early to capture natural freshness and preserve balance. The fruit is crushed without destemming and pressed to French oak for fermentation, followed by partial malolactic conversion and maturation for ten months in demi-muids. 

Sourced from three Estate blocks—including some of the oldest Chenin Blanc vines in Margaret River dating back to 1978—this Chenin Blanc captures the coastal freshness and texture of the microclimate, where gravelly, mineral-rich soils and maritime influence define the style. The organically farmed vineyards sit on gravelly loams over stony clay, producing balanced fruit with expressive varietal character.

Pressed to tank and settled naturally for 24 hours before spontaneous fermentation across a mix of vessels, the components were blended in late August with 30% maturation in seasoned French oak and time on lees building texture while preserving clarity and structure. The result is light and bright yet structured, with natural acidity, a gentle phenolic grip and a subtle savoury, mineral, saline edge finishing with quiet persistence.