Hervé Villemade "What's up " NV

Varietal

Chenin blanc is a white wine grape variety native to France’s Loire Valley. Because of its high acidity, it can be used to make anything from sparkling wines to well-balanced dessert wines, but if the vine’s natural vigor is not regulated, it can produce very bland, neutral wines. It can be found in most New World wine regions outside of the Loire; it is the most commonly planted variety in South Africa, where it was previously known as Steen. The grape may have been one of the first to be planted in South Africa by Jan van Riebeeck in 1655, or it may have arrived with Huguenots fleeing France after the Edict of Nantes was revoked in 1685. Chenin blanc was also often misidentified in Australia, making tracing its early history difficult. C. Waterhouse was rising Steen at Highercombe in Houghton, South Australia, by 1862, and it may have been introduced in James Busby’s collection of 1832.