Dry Creek Chenin Blanc and a Friend

Dry Creek Vineyard has just released a couple of blancs; a Chenin Blanc and a Fume Blanc. Both of these varieties have had great success in France and South Africa but have had a checkered past in the United States.
Up until the 1960’s, the Chenin Blanc was an also ran to the chardonnay which, was the king of the hill. Chenin Blanc was used mainly as a filler in cheap white wines and jug wines and was looked upon as a grape variety without much of a future in the fine wine community.
To digress for a moment, it takes a considerable monetary investment on the part of a vineyardist to plant vines on a new plot of land or an old vineyard. What variety should he plant? There was a time when the demand for chardonnay grapes far exceeded the supply so many vintners pulled out other varieties and planted chardonnay. In the five years it takes for a vine to mature and produce grapes fit for wine, the taste of the nation had changed again and white zinfandel was the craze. Out came the chardonnay and in went the zin. By the time they were ripe, zin was out and merlot was in. Out came the zinfandel and in went the merlot. In fact, there was so much merlot planted that California had a glut of it, so much so that many of it went to fruit juices and home winemaking concentrate. Many, many growers lost everything in this fiasco as the price of vineyard property had dropped dramatically. The point we are trying to make is that fortunes could be made and lost solely on the choice of what grape variety to plant. So it took a great gamble and a lot of guts on the part of Dry Creek Vineyards to plant and make wine from the lowly Chenin Blanc, a grape that they had faith in but few else did.
Fume Blanc, which is made from the sauvignon grape, fared little better than the Chenin Blanc until the 60’s when winemakers began to work with the variety to produce a wine similar to the famed Fume Blanc’s of the Loire Valley in France. The basic difference between a wine called a Fume Blanc and the Sauvignon Blanc are dramatic. A Fume Blanc is a wine with a slightly smoky flavor that bespeaks a softer, more elegant style stressing the ancient style of the Loire Valley rather than the more fruity California style.

Dry Creek Vintners 2011 Chenin Blanc ($12). In the hands of the Dry Creek Vintners, the Chenin Blanc grape produces an elegant dry wine offering the aromas of melon, peach and lemon peel. The flavor is a mélange of apple, melons and tropical fruits. These flavors carry over to the finish which also expresses a mineral element with some chalky notes that definitely increases the interest. This wine is the perfect wine to accompany sea food, shell fish, salads, the light meats and anything that is spicy. The Dry Creek Vintners 2011 Chenin Blanc has lifted the often maligned Chenin Blanc to new heights of excellence and quality.

Dry Creek Vintners 2011 Fume Blanc ($12). A great deal of talent went into the making of this wine and then to name an American wine Fume Blanc is placing that wine in better company and it will surely be judged so. Fortunately for all of us, the wine lives up to its name. The aroma has a positive green apple and fresh cut grass aroma with lemon, white pepper and black olives in the background. The flavor does have that signature smoky element as well as pineapple and lemon with a hint of oak and spices. While most Fume Blanc wines are relegated to the accompaniment of shellfish or seafood, this wine will fit well with vegetable dishes and poultry. It is a very fine wine which is typical of all of the wines from Dry Creek.